Japan To Invest $42 Billion PM Kishida’s Visit To India

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What has happened?

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be in India on Saturday for his first visit to the country as the head of government.
He will meet PM Narendra Modi for bilateral talks on Saturday evening, and leave Delhi on Sunday morning.
“Today, I am visiting India, making my first bilateral visit since my appointment as Prime Minister.
Linked by universal values such as freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, which have been shared through a long history of exchange,
Japan and India are “Special Strategic and Global Partners,” which share strategic interests.
In this milestone year, marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and India,
I am dearly looking forward to this visit, the first by a serving Prime Minister of Japan in four and a half years, and to be able to feel for myself the tremendous dynamism of India.”

This will be 14^th India-Japan summit.
The last India-Japan summit took place in 2018 in Tokyo.
This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of India-Japan diplomatic relations (28 April 1952).
This is also Kishida’s first bilateral visit.
Kishida, a native of Hiroshima, was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Japan on October 4, 2021.
He has been an MP from Hiroshima as well.
He was Japan’s Foreign Minister earlier. He has met PM Modi in that capacity four times.
He also visited India when he was the foreign minister.

There will be talks on convergence on free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.
Talks on progress in defence and security and in regional context.
India and Japan signed a Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services Agreement (RPSS).
The inaugural 2+2 ministerial meeting was held in November 2019
Act East Forum: A decision was taken in the 2017 Summit to establish the India-Japan Act East Forum.
The objective is to coordinate developmental projects in North-East India in areas of connectivity, forest management, disaster risk reduction and capacity building.
Several projects including upgradation of highways in Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram are underway.
The PM had last year laid the foundation stone of a 20 km-long bridge over the Brahmaputra River between Assam and Meghalaya.
Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) – The Trade and Economy Ministers of India, Japan and Australia launched the (SCRI) on 27 April 2021.
The initiative seeks to enhance the resilience of supply chains in the Indo-Pacific Region and to develop dependable sources of supply and to attract investment.
As initial projects (i) sharing of best practices on supply chain resilience; and (ii) holding of a matching event have been completed.

Since PM Modi’s visit to Japan in 2014, tremendous progress has been made on implementation of several important decisions which have been taken by the PMs.
The two countries have achieved the target of 3.5 trillion Japanese Yen in public and private investments in India which was announced by PM Modi and former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe in 2014 (Investment Promotion Partnership).
Today, there are 1,455 Japanese companies in India. Eleven Japan Industrial Townships (JIT) have been established, with Neemrana in Rajasthan and Sri City in Andhra Pradesh having the maximum number of companies.
Japan is the 5th largest source of FDI; largest supplier of ODA (development partner of India)
Several infrastructure projects are underway through Japanese assistance including Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail, Dedicated Freight Corridor, metro projects, DMIC etc Last year, PM Modi inaugurated the Varanasi Convention Centre (Rudraksh), while the then PM Yoshihide Suga sent a video message

The two sides had signed a Digital Partnership in October 2018. Collaboration in startups has emerged as a vibrant aspect under this Partnership.
Till date Indian startups have raised more than USD 10 billion from Japanese VCs. India and Japan have also launched a private sector driven fund-of-funds to invest in technology startups in India which has raised USD 100 million so far.
Both countries also have cooperation in the field of ICT, in areas such as 5G, under-sea cables, telecom and network security. A workshop on 5G was also held.

According to Japanese media outlet Nikkei Asia, Kishida is likely to announce a plan to invest 5 trillion yen ($42 billion) in India over five years.
Kishida and Modi are also expected to agree to convene a two-plus-two meeting between the two countries’ Foreign and Defence ministers at the earliest.
Kishida is also likely to agree to an approximately 300-billion-yen loan.
Besides, an energy cooperation document concerning carbon reduction is expected to be signed.
Japan is set to hold an in-person summit of Quad leaders this year and Modi is expected to attend it.

Q) Which of the following water bodies lies in the West of Japan?