India-Japan Summit 2022.

 ~Preet.

The Japanese Prime Minister recently paid an official visit to India to attend the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit. The Summit took place at the 70th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic ties between the two countries, as well as India's 75th anniversary of independence. Earlier, the Indian Prime Minister virtually launched a Japanese 'Zen Garden - Kaizen Academy' at Gujarat's Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA).

Japan will invest Rs 3.2 lakh crores in India over the next five years. 7 JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) loans to several states for projects in connectivity, water supply and sewage, horticulture, healthcare, and wildlife protection. Japanese firms have inked an agreement to introduce Johkasou technology for decentralised wastewater treatment in India. It is utilised in locations where sewage infrastructure has yet to be built. The Sustainable Development Initiative for the North Eastern Region of India was launched with a focus on India's infrastructure development in the Northeast, and it includes both ongoing projects and potential future collaboration in connectivity, healthcare, new and renewable energy, and a bamboo value chain initiative.

On cyber security, the leaders addressed the "India-Japan Digital Partnership," which aims to boost the digital economy by promoting cooperative initiatives in IoT (internet of Things), AI (Artificial Intelligence), and other new technologies. Japan hopes to attract more highly trained Indian IT experts to contribute to Japan's ICT economy. It was established to foster collaboration in fields such as electric cars, storage systems including batteries, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, solar energy development, hydrogen and ammonia production, and so on. The goal is to boost manufacturing in India, as well as the development of robust and trustworthy supply chains in these sectors, as well as to foster collaboration in R&D. (Research and Development). It will be executed using the current Energy Dialogue system.

Japan's support on the MAHSR and several Metro projects in India was welcomed, and the country looked forward to the planned preliminary study for the Patna Metro. The Indian Prime Minister reaffirmed India's participation at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, as a chance to enhance and expand trade, investment, and people-to-people ties between the two countries. The two presidents reaffirmed their commitment to fostering Indo-Pacific peace, security, and prosperity. The two Prime Ministers emphasised the significance of bilateral and plurilateral cooperation among like-minded nations in the area, such as the QUAD grouping of India, Australia, Japan, and the United States. The Japanese Prime Minister invited PM Modi to Tokyo for the QUAD Summit Meeting. The two leaders reiterated their "condemnation of terrorist attacks in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks," and urged Pakistan to take firm and irreversible action against terrorist networks operating from its territory, as well as to fully comply with international commitments, including those made to the FATF (Financial Action Task Force). The Japanese Prime Minister emphasised the necessity of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty entering into force as soon as possible (CTBT). The Treaty aspires to prohibit all nuclear explosions, wherever and by anybody. It will enter into force whenever all 44 of the countries named in Annex 2 to the Treaty have ratified it. The Treaty has yet to be signed by India.

Recently, India, Japan, and Australia formally created the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) to oppose China's supply chain dominance in the Indo-Pacific region. In 2020, India and Japan inked a logistical agreement that will allow both countries' military forces to closely collaborate in terms of services and supplies. The acquisition and cross-servicing agreement is known as the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA). India and Japan elevated their relationship to a "Special Strategic and Global Partnership" in 2014. The India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which entered into force in August 2011, governs trade in products, services, natural person movement, investments, intellectual property rights, customs processes, and other trade-related problems. Japan is India's 12th largest trading partner, with trade volumes between the two accounting for only one-fifth of the value of bilateral trade between India and China. JIMEX (naval), SHINYUU Maitri (air force), and Dharma Guardian are bilateral exercises organised by India and Japan's defence forces (Army). Both nations also take part in the Malabar exercise (Naval Exercise) with the United States and Australia. India and Japan are both members of the G-20 and the G-4. They are also members of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor consortium (ITER).