Since 2014, the relations between India and Japan have gone from strength to strength. At least some of it can be attributed to the good personal relationship between the Prime Ministers of the two democracies, PM Modi and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe.

The summit meeting between the two is scheduled to take place early next week, as reported by Mint. It would be the twelfth such meeting in the short span of four and half years. The leaders are expected to announce joint development of infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific region, in a bid to counter the aggressive posturing of China in the vast seas.

PM Modi will visit Japan on Saturday (27 October) and meet Shinzo Abe on Monday (29 October). While Japan is the second largest Asian economy, India comes in at third.

The Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale noted that India and Japan are expected to sign an agreement that will allow for the release of the second instalment of funds by Japan to finance the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train project. The first instalment of Rs. 5,500 crore was released last month. 

Japan and India are also expected to hold discussions on other strategic interests. The Foreign Secretary said the talks would revolve around on “how we can collaborate in the context of the Indo-Pacific in Asia and in Africa on capacity building and in projects in a trilateral manner. In other words India, Japan plus one.”