Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, on Saturday. Later, during his trip to Hiroshima to attend the third in-person meeting of the Quad leaders and the annual summit of the G7, Modi unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi.
During Modi’s meeting with Kishida, the two leaders examined ways of upgrading India-Japan fellowship across various areas, including exchange, economy, and culture.
“Had an excellent meeting with PM Fumio Kishida this morning. We reviewed the full range of India-Japan relations and also discussed the focus areas of India’s G-20 Presidency and Japan’s G-7 Presidency towards making our planet better,” wrote PM Modi on Twitter.
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in a tweet, said, “PM Narendra Modi and PM Fumio Kishida of Japan held warm and productive talks.”
“Discussed ways to synergise efforts of respective G-7 and G-20 Presidencies, and the need to highlight the voice of Global South. Also exchanged views on contemporary regional developments and on deepening cooperation in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
“Leaders discussed ways to further strengthen the bilateral Special Strategic and Global Partnership. Education, skill development, tourism, high technology and digital public infrastructure were covered,” the MEA spokesperson added.
Afterward, PM Modi unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Hiroshima.
“A symbol of friendship and goodwill. Mahatma’s bust, a gift from India to the city of Hiroshima, is a befitting tribute to a city that symbolises humanity’s yearning for peace,” MEA Spokesperson Bagchi tweeted.
Modi showed up in Hiroshima on Friday on the primary leg of his three-country outing to Japan, Papua New Guinea, and Australia and is supposed to partake in north of 40 commitments.
“Landed in Hiroshima to join the G7 Summit proceedings. Will also be having bilateral meetings with various world leaders,” Modi tweeted.
In his statement of departure, the prime minister stated that he was looking forward to discussing global challenges and the need to work together to solve them with the G7 and other invited partners.
Modi is visiting Hiroshima from May 19 to 21 fundamentally for the annual summit of the G7 advanced economies, in which he is supposed to talk about difficulties confronting the globe, including food, fertilizer, and energy security.
He is likely to meet separately with some of the world leaders who are attending the G7 Summit in Hiroshima.
Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, and the European Union make up the G-7 bloc.
