Japan PM Kishida’s agenda in Delhi: Coordinating G7 and G20, Ukraine, launching new Indo-Pacific cooperation

Japanese Prime Minister’s 24-hour visit is not a part of the annual meetings, meeting PM Modi for “candid” talks, a senior Japanese official said

Synchronising plans for the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May this year and the G20 summit in Delhi in September will be on the agenda for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s 24-hour visit to Delhi on March 19, said a senior Japanese official.

Mr. Kishida will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also deliver a major speech on Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy and its new defence posture, more than 15 years since PM Shinzo Abe first spoke about Indo-Pacific cooperation during a visit to Delhi. Mr. Kishida and Mr. Modi will also take a walk together at a park in Delhi to visit a venerated tree with deep roots to Gautam Buddha’s time.

Mr. Kishida has been on a whirlwind spree of meetings with international leaders beginning in January, when he travelled to the U.S., Canada, U.K., France and Italy, and also hosted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Tokyo this weekend to discuss the G7 agenda with member countries.

He will make the short trip to Delhi to work with Mr. Modi on more cooperation between G7 and G20 Presidencies, and is likely to make another attempt at bringing India on board with more tough language on Russia during the Hiroshima G7 meeting, something India didn’t sign on to during last year’s G7 summit in Germany.

While India is not a member of the G7 grouping of the world’s most developed economies, the Indian Prime Minister has been invited several times as special guest to summits since 2008.

“As Japan and India assume the Presidencies of the G7 and the G20 respectively this year, Prime Minister Kishida looks forward to engaging in candid discussions with Prime Minister Modi on the roles that the G7 and the G20 should play in overcoming such global challenges as regional and international security, food security, climate and energy, fair and transparent development finance,” Noriyuki Shikata, Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs at the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office, told The Hindu when asked about the visit.

Mr. Kishida’s visit is unusual, as it is not a part of the annual bilateral summits Indian and Japanese leaders have held since 2006. Government sources also said that the visit would focus on “converging priorities on critical global issues, including food and health security, energy transitions and economic security,” indicating discussions on the impact of the Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic were on the agenda for talks.