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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Monday discussed Sri Lanka's debt issues and agreed to coordinate on it, according to Japanese officials.
The officials said, "India has been invited along with Australia, Cook Islands, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia and others for the G7 Summit in Japan. India has huge potential and demand in terms of infrastructure development" On being asked if the USD 75 billion pledged by Japan PM Kishida in Delhi is to counter China, the Japanese officials said that: "No..it is a demonstration for free and open Indo-Pacific. Prime Minister has emphasized repeatedly that they have no country in check or vision to counter any country." As per the officials, both nations believe in active defence exchanges. "India-Japan did joint exercises. Progress has been made in the defence security arena," the officials said. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced over USD 75 billion worth of infrastructure and security assistance for the Indo-Pacific during a visit to India on Monday. Kishida made the pledge in a speech at an event organized by the Indian Council of World Affairs think tank, after a one-on-one summit with Modi, in which he invited the Indian leader to attend the Group of Seven summits in Hiroshima in May, according to Asia Nikkie. PM Modi, his Japanese counterpart Kishida on Monday exchanged views on defence equipment and technology cooperation, trade, health, digital partnership and also had a fruitful discussion on the importance of reliable supply chains in semiconductors and other critical technologies. The two leaders had "excellent talks" during Kishida's visit to New Delhi with PM Modi stating that strengthening bilateral partnership is not only important for both our countries, it also promotes peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. He said that the two countries had last year set a target of Japanese investment of 5 trillion yen (Rs 3,20,000 crore) in India in the next five years and it is a matter of satisfaction that there has been good progress in this direction. PM Kishida's visit assumes significance as India is chairing the G20 and Japan is chairing the G7. Following talks between the two leaders, there was an exchange of notes between the Ministry of External Affairs of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan of tranche-IV JICA ODA Loan of JPY 300 billion for Mumbai Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR). (ANI)
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