Japanese Foreign Minister arrives in India for 2+2 meeting, says India’s strategic importance greater than ever before

New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko arrived in New Delhi late Monday afternoon to attend the third India-Japan 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministers’ meeting to be held at the Hyderabad House on Tuesday evening.

“India’s strategic importance has never been greater than it is now,” the Japanese Foreign Minister said just before her arrival in India.

On Tuesday, Kamikawa Yoko and Japan’s Minister of Defence Minoru Kihara will hold the 2+2 talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

“Substantive discussions covering various spheres of India-Japan multifaceted partnership lie ahead,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) posted on X.

This is Kamikawa Yoko’s first visit to India since assuming the position as Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs. She is also scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“India is located in the centre of the Indian Ocean sea lanes connecting Asia and Africa, and is an important partner in realising a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP). At this meeting, the two ministers will share their views on the strategic environment toward maintaining and strengthening a free and open international order based on the rule of law, and confirm further strengthening of security and defence cooperation,” Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said ahead of Kamikawa Yoko’s New Delhi visit.

Before the 2+2 talks, the Japanese Foreign Minister is also scheduled to hold discussions with EAM Jaishankar, where they will confirm their intention to deepen cooperative relations between the two countries in the areas of bilateral economic and development cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, and in the international arena.

Last month, during his visit to Tokyo for the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting, EAM Jaishankar stated that India-Japan ties are shaped by the regional and global environment and there is a need for a “contemporary partnership” in an era of new capabilities, new technologies, new challenges and new stresses.

“Our goal, where Japan is concerned, is to increase investments rapidly. There are 1,400 Japanese businesses operating in India. We would like to see that number grow. And we have an investment target of 5 trillion yen, that is $42 billion by 2027. In India, I must tell you that Japan has long been associated with economic and technology advancement. It is not just the example of Japanese progress itself, but it is also reflected in the history of our collaboration,” Jaishankar remarked at the Japan National Press Club on July 29.

On the same day, the EAM held talks with Kamikawa Yoko where the Japanese Foreign Minister stated that Tokyo considers New Delhi as an important partner with which it intends to deepen cooperation and “co-create” new solutions through dialogue and collaboration.

The two ministers agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation and appreciated the steady progress of the high-speed rail project, a flagship project between India and Japan. Welcoming the expansion of recruitment for Indian nationals under the JET Programme and the start of the dispatch of Japanese Language Partners to India, they also exchanged views on cooperation regarding the Security Council reform, looking ahead at the Summit of the Future scheduled to be held at the UN Headquarters in New York, next month.

–IANS

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