India and Japan PMs’ First-in-person Meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga in-person on September 23, 2021.

Key Points

• During the meeting, both the leaders reaffirmed their commitment towards a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
• They reviewed multi-faceted bilateral relationship as well as exchanged views on recent global developments like in Afghanistan.
• This meeting was held ahead of the first in-person Quad meeting which will be hosted by US President Joe Biden.
• Prime Ministers also agreed to enhance bilateral security and defence cooperation including in the area of defence equipment and technologies.

SCRI Initiative

• Leaders welcomed the launch of “Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI)” between India, Japan and Australia. It is a collaborative mechanism that will enable resilient, diversified and trustworthy supply chains.
• PM Modi highlighted the need of developing bilateral partnerships in manufacturing, MSME and skill development.
• They also discussed Covid-19 pandemic and efforts to address it. Leaders highlighted the increasing importance of digital technologies and evaluated the progress on India-Japan Digital Partnership.
• Views were exchanged on further collaboration in various emerging technologies.
• Climate change issues and green energy transition issues were also discussed.
• Progress on bilateral developmental projects in North Eastern Region of India, under the India-Japan Act East Forum was also reviewed.

SSW agreement

To operationalise the Specified Skilled workers (SSW) agreement Japanese side will undertake skill and language tests in India from early 2022.  SSW agreement was signed between India and Japan in April 2019.

MAHSR project

Both the sides reaffirmed their commitment to advance efforts towards facilitate the smooth and timely implementation of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2021