Modi in Tokyo for India-Japan Summit to expand tech, defence ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Tokyo on August 29 for a two day official visit to attend the 15th India Japan Annual Summit, meet Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and advance what New Delhi calls a Special Strategic and Global Partnership. The visit, Modi’s first standalone trip to Japan in nearly seven years and his eighth overall since 2014, focused on economic cooperation, emerging technologies and deeper defence and people to people ties.

Modi and Ishiba opened their engagements at an India Japan Joint Economic Forum, where the prime minister praised Japan as an important partner in India’s development and invited further investment. “From metro rail to manufacturing, semiconductors to startups... Japanese companies have invested over 40 billion in India,” he said, and urged firms to “come, make in India, and make for the world,” highlighting India’s workforce as a comparative strength to Japan’s technological base. A 2024 survey by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation showed India as the most promising country over the next three years with a 58.7 percent vote share, officials noted during the visit.

Industrial tours were a central feature of the...