New Delhi [India], July 2 (ANI): Japan’s Press Secretary Toshihiro Kitamura on Thursday said both India and Japan would like to work together to achieve the respective goals of Viksit Bharat and a strong economy.
Speaking to ANI, Kitamura described India as a key partner for regional peace and security, and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi focused on strategic cooperation, economic security and investment, with cooperation between Japanese and Indian companies.
Describing Takaichi’s visit to India, the press secretary said, “Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi has been visiting India since yesterday to attend the annual summit meeting with Prime Minister Modi. And this is the very first visit for Prime Minister Takaichi to India since her taking office last October. So Japan and India share common fundamental values and strategic interests. And India is a key partner for Japan in realising a free and open Indo-Pacific. And the strengthening of cooperation with India is essential for regional peace and security.”
He added that the two nations look at each other as a “special strategic and global partner.”
“Japan and India define our relationship as a special strategic and global partner. And now we think that this partnership will become stronger. So we believe that current Japan and India are strategically aligned, trusted partners. So we would like to work together in order to address both globally and bilaterally,” Kitamura said.
“We would like to further strengthen our relationship and cooperation so that both countries can achieve economic growth. I think that India government has set the target of Viksit Bharat as a national target, while the Japanese government has set the target to make the Japanese economy a strong economy. So in order to realise the economic growth in both countries, we would like to work together, both public and private, to promote our relationship, especially in the field of economy,” he added.
On strategic cooperation between the two nations, he said that India and Japan are required to strengthen ties in the backdrop of the current international situation. The two Prime Ministers, he said, have decided to broaden maritime security.
The Japanese press secretary said, “Both Prime Ministers focused on three areas of cooperation. First is the strategic cooperation. So, in light of the current international situation, both India and Japan need to strengthen their cooperation in order to address the issues. And we have decided to broaden and strengthen the cooperation in various fields, including maritime security.”
For economic and energy security, he said that India and Japan have identified five areas of cooperation, namely, semiconductors, information and communication technologies, critical minerals, clean energy, and pharmaceuticals.
He said, “The second point is the cooperation in the areas of economic security and energy security. And we consider that the supply chain resilience is an important issue for both countries. And we have identified five priority areas in promoting the cooperation between the two countries, namely semiconductors, information and communication technologies, critical minerals, clean energy, and lastly pharmaceuticals. We are going to move forward with the concrete cooperation based on the project in these five areas.”
Toshihiro Kitamura further told ANI that the two governments have decided to support the companies to promote investment, especially in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
He said, “The third key point is the cooperation between Japanese and Indian companies in investment and innovation. And both governments support both Indian and Japanese companies in promoting investment and cooperative innovation, especially in emerging fields like AI.”
“And after the meeting, two leaders adopted three documents. One is the Japan-India Joint Statement. The second is the Joint Declaration on Economic Security. The third is the Joint Declaration on cooperation in the field of AI. And they have also adopted many areas of the cooperation document. So based on that, we work together for further development of our relationship,” he added.
During Japanese PM Takaichi’s three-day visit to India at the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, the two nations significantly expanded their cooperation in artificial intelligence, agreeing to jointly develop a “safe, secure, trustworthy, inclusive, human-centric, sustainable, accountable, and innovation-orientated AI ecosystem” across the entire technology stack.
Japan announced 129 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with India at the Japan-India Joint Economic Forum today.
India and Japan signed agreements on economic security, artificial intelligence, defence, and health sectors for a “futuristic and limitless” partnership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. (ANI)
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