From defence to digital transformation, India and Japan are expected to make some solid progress towards further strengthening their Special Strategic and Global Partnership during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to New Delhi next week.

Both countries – key pillars of a stable and secure Indo-Pacific region – have also put digitalization of society and the economy as a priority during their ongoing respective Presidencies of the G20 and G7.

Ahead of Kishida’s March 20-21 visit, Japan’s Digital Minister Taro Kono visited the Indian capital over the weekend holding discussions, including with Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The visit aimed at strengthening cooperation with India and other G20 countries, the Global South, and private-sector companies besides preparing ground for the success of the G7 Gunma Takasaki Digital and Technology Ministers’ Meeting in April.

As India marches on to become a digital powerhouse, Kono and Vaishnaw held a dialogue on the efforts of both countries regarding digitalization, interoperability of eID, and the dispatch of specialists.

“Met the Digital Minister of Japan, Mr @konotaromp and discussed cooperation in emerging technologies & India’s digital public infrastructure and India telecom stack,” tweeted Vaishnaw.

The former Japanese Defence and Foreign Affairs minister later told Mint that Japan will be sending a team to India after the G7 meetings at home to learn more from India’s UPI model.

On Friday, Akihiko Tanaka, President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), also called on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to discuss agency’s continued engagement with Indian infrastructure and connectivity.

“Deepening cooperation between our two countries today requires greater investment in human resources and personnel exchanges. Confident JICA will take up this challenge,” said Jaishankar.

Earlier this month, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi held an hour-long working lunch meeting with Jaishankar on the sidelines of the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

The two ministers welcomed the progress in bilateral relations, not only in the field of economic cooperation but also defence and security to tackle the growing Chinese assertion – from Eastern Ladakh to the Senkaku Islands.

Acknowledging the importance of the India-Japan defence partnership and the critical role it will play in ensuring a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific region, both countries have held a string of joint military exercises recently.

On March 11th, I had an honor to join the courtesy call on Honorable Prime Minister Modi @narendramodi by Dr. TANAKA Akihiko, President of JICA. We had fruitful discussions on future cooperation and I look forward to working closely with JICA and the government of India. pic.twitter.com/r5ifgGyvAD

— Hiroshi Suzuki, Ambassador of Japan (@HiroSuzukiAmbJP) March 13, 2023

After the massive success of the 16-day inaugural ‘Veer Guardian-2023’ joint Air Exercise at the Hyakuri Air Base in January, troops of the Garhwal Rifles regiment of the Indian Army and an infantry regiment from the Middle Army of the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF) participated in the fourth edition of the joint military exercise ‘Dharma Guardian’ at Camp Imazu in Japan’s Shiga province in February.

It was followed by the bilateral ‘Shinyu-Maitri-23’ transport aircraft exercise between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Japan Air Self-Defence Force.

The Quad partners also take part in several multilateral defence exercises such as ‘Sea Dragon, and the India-Japan-US-Australia joint exercise ‘Malabar’ which will be hosted by Australia this year.

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