Finance
After a successful two-day visit to Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for China on Saturday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, which starts on Sunday.
From August 31 to September 1, China is hosting the SCO summit. It will be PM Modi’s first trip to China in seven years, and the first since the June 2020 Line of Actual Control (LAC) clash between the two nations’ forces in the Galwan Valley.
Earlier, before heading out for his two-nation visit, PM Modi, in his departure statement, had said, “I will travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. India is an active and constructive member of the SCO. During our Presidency, we have introduced new ideas and initiated collaboration in the fields of innovation, health and cultural exchanges.”
He said that India “remains committed to working with the SCO members to address shared challenges and deepen regional cooperation.”
“I also look forward to meeting President Xi Jinping, President Putin and other leaders on the sidelines of the Summit,” PM Modi stated.
In 2024, the two leaders met in Kazan, Russia, concurrently with the BRICS Summit. In order to put an end to the four-year border dispute, India and China agreed to police the almost 3,500-kilometer LAC, which paved the way for the breakthrough in bilateral discussions.
Founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, the SCO is a permanent intergovernmental organization. China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and Belarus are the members of the SCO.
The SCO has 14 discussion partners, including Turkey, Kuwait, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, and Nepal, and two observer states, Afghanistan and Mongolia. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, the Maldives, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.
In the meantime, PM Modi attended the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit and held a number of high-level talks with the leaders of the Southeast Asian country when he was in Japan.
He met with the governors of Japan’s sixteen prefectures, emphasizing the possibility of cooperation between Indian states and Japanese prefectures through the establishment of partnerships and the utilization of innovative initiatives. Additionally, he urged them to take part in “India’s growth story.”
PM Modi and Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba arrived in Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, earlier in the day. They rode the famous Shinkansen (bullet train) together.
The two leaders went to Tokyo Electron Miyagi Ltd. (TEL Miyagi), a well-known Japanese semiconductor business, in Sendai.
“I visited Prime Minister Ishiba and Tokyo Electron’s factory. I inspected the training room and the Production Innovation Lab, and also exchanged opinions with the company’s executives,” PM Modi shared in a post on X.
“Semiconductors are important field in India-Japan cooperation. In recent years, India has made significant progress in this field, and many young people are now getting involved. I hope to continue this momentum in the future as well,” he added.
Source: IANS
