India-Japan relations are about to reach new heights. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral talks on March 20 (Monday) at Hyderabad House in Delhi. It is part of the annual India-Japan summit. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is in India for two days.
Fumio Kishida will attend the 41st Sapru House Lecture at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan on March 20 itself. It is expected that in this lecture, organized by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), PM Fumio will present the road map of the new Indo-Pacific plan to the world, in which India-Japan friendship is of utmost importance. It will be a project linked to a free and open Indian Ocean region to maintain regional peace.
What is new Indo-Pacific Plan?
At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last year, Fumio Kishida first mentioned the Indo-Pacific plan and said he would present it to the world in the spring of 2023. At the time, he said he would outline a free and open Indo-Pacific plan for peace by next spring, which would bolster Japan’s efforts to keep the region free and open. The main objective of the new Indo-Pacific plan is to balance China’s growing influence and expansionist stance across the region. Along with this, emphasis will be placed on providing more options to developing countries to increase development and defense cooperation in this sector.
