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On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go to Japan for the first time on his own in almost seven years to attend the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit. This will be the first summit meeting between Prime Minister Modi and his Japanese colleague Shigeru Ishiba, and his seventh trip to Japan overall.
In May 2023, PM Modi made his most recent trip to Japan. The leaders had already met last year at the 21st ASEAN-India Summit in Vientiane, Laos, and in June 2025 while attending the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada.
“During his stay, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will hold talks with Prime Minister Modi and hold a working dinner. The two leaders are also scheduled to visit Miyagi Prefecture. It is expected that Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Japan will further deepen the friendly and cooperative relations between Japan and India. This will be Prime Minister Modi’s eighth visit to Japan as Prime Minister, his last visit was in May 2023,” read a statement issued by the Japanese Foreign Ministry ahead of PM Modi’s visit.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), during the visit, the two Prime Ministers will review the Special Strategic and Global Partnership between India and Japan, including defence and security, trade and economy, technology and innovation, and people to people exchanges, as well as discuss issues of regional and global importance. The visit will reaffirm the longstanding special bond of friendship between the two countries.
“The annual summit between India and Japan represents the highest-level dialogue mechanism that exists between the two countries, and it drives the agenda of the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership,” said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
According to the MEA, India and Japan have had a Special Strategic and Global Partnership since 2014. This partnership is based on shared civilizational links and is strengthened by convergence in regional and global perspectives.
Both nations have similar Indo-Pacific objectives, with Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) being complemented by India’s Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI).
Plurilateral platforms including the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), the Quad, the International Solar Alliance (ISA), and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) are all part of the collaboration.
Japan is India’s biggest source of official development assistance (ODA) and leads the IPOI’s connectivity pillar.
“India and Japan are two countries that share values, trust and strategic outlook on several issues. They are Asia’s two leading democracies and amongst the world’s top five economies,” Misri stated.
Both prime ministers are anticipated to discuss important regional and international issues and assess the progress made in recent years during the summit.
India-Japan relations have steadily grown in scope and ambition over the past 10 years, according to Foreign Secretary Misri, and the visit will allow the introduction of new projects meant to strengthen the partnership’s resilience while tackling new possibilities and difficulties.
Additionally, he emphasized that India still views the Quad grouping—which consists of the United States, Japan, Australia, and India—as a strategic counterbalance to China in the Indo-Pacific.
“In recent years, engagement between Indian states and Japanese prefectures has intensified, and this aspect will also be a focus during the visit. Overall, the visit will consolidate our long-standing friendship, open fresh avenues of cooperation and reaffirm our shared commitment to peace, prosperity and stability in our shared Indo-Pacific region and beyond,” Misri told reporters ahead of PM Modi’s departure.
PM Modi is also expected to attend a business leaders’ forum with leading figures from the Japanese and Indian industries during the two-day visit. The talks will cover topics pertaining to enhancing security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region as well as enhancing collaboration within the Quad.
Prime Minister Modi will visit China from August 31 to September 1 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Tianjin after his commitments in Japan.
Source: IANS
