Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Hiroshima for G7 summit in May

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Hiroshima for the G7 summit in May as he accepted his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida’s invitation on Monday during their bilateral summit, even as he made it clear that India would take along everyone for its G20 presidency.

“I formally invited PM Modi to G7 Hiroshima Summit and on the spot my invitation was immediately accepted,” Kishida told media persons at a joint press conference held after the bilateral meeting.

Modi said, “Today Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida invited me to the G7 Leaders’ Summit which will be held in Hiroshima in May. I thank him for this.”

Modi also invited him to the G20 summit that will be held in September. “In September this year, I will again get the opportunity to welcome PM Fumio Kishida to India for the G20 Leaders’ Summit,” he said. “I told PM Kishida in detail about the priorities of our G20 presidency. An important foundation of our G20 presidency is to voice the priorities of the Global South. A culture that believes in vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family), believes in going ahead by bringing everyone together.”

The statement was interpreted as indicating that India will invite all G20 leaders for the summit, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kishida further said, “Our economic cooperation with India, which continues to grow rapidly, will not only support the further development of India but also create significant economic opportunities for Japan. In this regard, we welcome that steady progress is being made towards realising 5 trillion yen of public and private investment in financing from Japan to India in five years.”

The Japanese PM also welcomed the renewal of the Memorandum of Cooperation on Japanese language education and said both nations are prioritising decarbonisation and energy. He also said both nations will prioritise tourism. “2023 will be the year of the Japan-India tourism exchange to promote our exchanges through tourism," he said.

Modi said both nations respect the rule of law on international platforms and that their mutual respect is the foundation of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership. “Strengthening this partnership is not only beneficial to India and Japan, but Indo-Pacific will also have peace, progress and the stability would be boosted,” he said

Modi said the two leaders also analysed the progress made in bilateral relations and said it is a great opportunity to work together with common interests and priorities.

The PM said that under the India-Japan Competitiveness Partnership established in 2019, both countries have focused on logistics, food processing issues and micro, small and medium enterprises. He expressed the hope that the series of discussions and consultations between the two countries will continue and India-Japan ties will reach new heights.

“Today, we expressed satisfaction with the activities of this partnership. We are moving forward on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project,” said Modi.

The theme for Tourism Exchange Year 2023 between India and Japan is ‘Connecting the Himalayas with Mount Fuji’.