Japanese PM set to visit India on March 19-20

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is planning to visit India on March 19-20 for the annual summit. It would push fresh investments here and would be an opportunity to give momentum to the bilateral partnership and Quad.

Kishida will be the first global leader to visit India since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. His visit will focus on the Quad summit that Tokyo plans to hold in May-June, ET has learnt. The Ukraine situation will be high on the agenda of the summit.

An India-Japan annual summit in physical format has been pending as the Japanese PM had to cancel his visit to Guwahati in December 2019 due to anti-CAA protests and subsequently because of the pandemic.


Kishida is also likely to visit Cambodia, according to a Japanese government insider.

The insider said Kishida hopes to reaffirm with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the pursuit of a free and open Indo-Pacific region as members of the Quad.

The four leaders met virtually for the Quad summit last week to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine among other issues. India has steered clear of condemning Russia, calling for dialogue and diplomacy.

During the March 3 Quad meet, Kishida had said, "Unilateral changes to the status quo by force or coercion like the recent Russian aggression against Ukraine are also unacceptable in the Indo-Pacific region. It is critically important for us to bring about a free and open Indo-Pacific."

Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific Region has been a concern for both New Delhi and Tokyo.

The Japanese PM's visit will also focus on joint projects in third countries besides northeast India and Bay of Bengal.