By Manali Joshi
On the 13th and 14th of September 2017, the 12th India Japan summit was held at the Mahatma Gandhi Mandir in Gandhinagar. The city of Ahmedabad greeted Japanese Prime Minister Shinz? Abe with an elaborate civic reception on the 13th of September.
The Prime Ministers of the two countries visited the Sabarmati Ashram, the Sidi Saiyyid ni Jali mosque in Ahmedabad, and DandiKutir, a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. The two leaders reviewed the recent progress in the multifaceted cooperation between their countries under the ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership’. They also signed 15 agreements on strategic, financial, and development cooperation. This included a range of fields like disaster-risk reduction, Japanese language education in India, the acceleration of Japanese investments, and joint research.
The bullet train project
A very significant part of the transformed Indo-Japanese relationship is the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project. It is a 500-kilometre project, financed by a Japanese credit of US $17 billion. The loan is payable in 50 years and it carries a nominal interest rate of 0.1%. The project aims to expose India to ultra modern technologies in electronics and sensors, along with sophisticated management processes, which are required for running bullet trains. It is beneficial to Japan, as it helps the country in establishing its business at an extremely feasible cost, which is in accordance with the socio-economic scenario of the country.
Rising international tensions
The summit is taking place amid escalating geopolitical tensions for both the countries. For India, it has been the confrontation with the Chinese forces in Bhutans Doklam plateau near the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction. Even though the conflict has subsided as of now, it still involves potential danger. On the other hand, Japan is facing the threat of a nuclear test by North Korea, along with China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea. This meet is projected to help the countries to conclusively decide on issues like the co-production of military equipment, the dual use of technology, and the long-pending Indian proposal to buy the US-2 amphibious aircraft from Japan.
Maritime security and terrorist threats
Maritime security is an issue with compelling reasons for collaboration between the countries. They may even reach out to other South-East Asian countries. Thus, the focus of security cooperation for both the countries is the maritime domain, coupled with bilateral naval exercises. The multinational Malabar exercises, which have helped build familiarity between their respective forces, are also significant. However, no negotiations took place regarding the supply of Japanese submarine technology. This would have locked Japan and India into an even tighter defence relationship for the years to come.
Both the Prime Ministers look forward to convening the 5th Japan-India consultation on terrorism. They seek to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats from groups like Al-Qaida, ISIS, JeM, LeT, and their affiliates. Prime Minister Abe has called for Pakistan to bring to justice the perpetrators of terror attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the 2016 Pathankot attacks.
Research, investments, and a ‘cool box’
Both the leaders seek to strengthen research collaboration in the areas of Unmanned Ground Vehicles and Robotics. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed to promote a cooperation between India’s Research and Information System (RIS) think-tank and Japan’s Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO). Strengthening the capacity of research, along with the effective dissemination of research findings, was also highlighted.
Japans Suzuki Motor Corporation announced fresh investments of around Rs 3,800 crore in Gujarat. This is in order to add a third car production plant, which will have a production capacity of 2.5 lakh units annually. The company, along with its partners Toshiba and Denso, will invest a further Rs 1,150 crore for a new unit to produce lithium-ion batteries.
Lastly, it was decided that the frequency of flights to selected cities of both the countries would be increased. Also, India Post and Japan Post will start a cool box service, using which the Japanese people living in India can order food from Japan.
Featured Image Source: Pmindia