New Delhi and Tokyo have vowed to boost trade and security ties as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the Japanese capital
India and Japan have unveiled a ten-year road map for cooperation in various sectors, as New Delhi seeks wider markets to offset 50% tariffs on its exports to the US.
At a joint press briefing in Tokyo on Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart, Shigeru Ishiba, released a joint statement that outlines a ten-year road map for cooperation.
“The India-Japan partnership is rooted in mutual trust, reflects our national priorities, and is shaped by our shared values and beliefs,” Modi said. “Together, we carry a common dream of peace, progress and prosperity of our peoples and for the world.”
In Tokyo, the Asian countries agreed to strengthen supply chains and investment, and expand cooperation in artificial intelligence, high-speed rail, space, and other technologies.
“I believe it is in the interests of both nations to build a mutually beneficial relationship,” Ishiba said.
“This involves leveraging each other’s strengths, tackling the challenges we face together, and pooling our wisdom to jointly create solutions for the next generation’s problems – problems for which no one currently holds the answers.”
New Delhi and Tokyo have also agreed to broaden the exchange of skilled workers. “The two countries have set an aspirational target of the exchange of more than 500,000 personnel in both directions in the next five years, including 50,000 skilled personnel and potential talents from India to Japan, to create a new wave of people to people exchanges between India and Japan,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The prime ministers also released a joint declaration on security cooperation, in which they affirmed that “Japan and India are partners with a mutual stake in each other’s progress and prosperity, and that a strong and prosperous India is in the interests of Japan and that a strong and prosperous Japan is in the interests of India.”
Modi said the countries share “similar concerns about terrorism and cyber security,” as well as “common interests in defense and maritime security.”
