Bullet Trains to Quad Bloc: What's The Agenda For PM Modi's 8th Japan Visit?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a two-day official visit to Japan on Aug. 28. He will take part in the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit with his counterpart, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, on Aug. 29 and 30.

This will be PM Modi’s first Annual Summit with Prime Minister Ishiba, said foreign secretary Vikram Misri. “It is also his first standalone visit to Japan in nearly seven years. He last visited for the Annual Summit in 2018. Since then, of course, he has visited Japan, but that has been for multilateral engagements and other ceremonial events. So, this will be a visit that will be fully dedicated to the bilateral agenda between India and Japan. This is also the Prime Minister’s eighth visit to Japan since he took office in 2014,” Misri told reporters in New Delhi ahead of the trip.

The summit is the cornerstone of the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership. It provides both leaders an opportunity to take stock of recent progress, assess cooperation across a range of areas and exchange views on pressing regional and global developments.

Misri said that discussions would cover sectors including trade and investment, defence and security, as well as science and technology. Modi’s itinerary also includes meetings with Japanese political leaders and participation in a business leaders’ forum alongside senior figures from Indian and Japanese industry.

“This will also be an opportunity to launch several new initiatives in order to build greater resilience in the relationship, and to respond to emerging opportunities and challenges,” Misri noted, though he did not disclose further details.

According to Japanese media reports cited by the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Modi and Ishiba will also travel to Miyagi Prefecture on Aug. 30 to inspect the Tohoku Shinkansen plant in Sendai. Both sides are expected to sign an agreement to transfer Japanese E-10 coaches to India by 2030 for use in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail, popularly known as the “Bullet Train” project.

On wider strategic matters, Misri said that the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, remains central to India-Japan engagement. “The Quad is an important platform for working on and promoting peace, stability, prosperity and development in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.

The foreign secretary added that the group’s agenda now extends beyond security. “In more recent years, its agenda has expanded to take on issues of practical cooperation and health security. It covers critical and emerging technologies. There’s an initiative with regard to critical minerals that has been discussed recently, he said.

“Both our countries attach high value to this forum and to this partnership. I’m sure when the two prime ministers meet, the Quad will be a subject that will be discussed between the two of them,” Misri added.

Following his engagements in Japan, PM Modi will proceed to Tianjin, China, where he has been invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the 25th meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Heads of State on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.