Indian PM Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Japan Shigeru Ishiba attended the India-Japan Economic Forum, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Keidanren [Japan Business Federation] in Tokyo on Friday, when they highlighted the success of Special Strategic and Global Partnership.

Leading industry figures from India and Japan, including CEOs of the India-Japan Business Leaders’ Forum, participated in the meeting.

Modi pointed to the success of bilateral collaboration in the fields of investment, manufacturing and technology.

Inviting Japanese companies to further enhance their footprint in India, he noted that the Indian growth story presented exciting opportunities for them.

He stated that deepening economic partnership between trusted friends were particularly relevant in the context of the present turbulent global economic scenario.

Prime Minister Modi emphasised that political stability, policy predictability, commitment to reforms and Ease of Doing Business efforts gave a new confidence to investors in the Indian market, which is aptly reflected in the latest credit rating upgrade of India by global agencies.

Underlining the significant potential for collaboration in cutting-edge technologies, manufacturing, investments and human resource exchanges between India and Japan, the Prime Minister stated that India was contributing around 18% to global growth and was on course to become the third largest economy in the world in a few years.

Given the complementarities of the two economies, he highlighted five key areas for greater business collaboration between Japan and India towards MAKE IN INDIA and other initiatives.

They are: i] Manufacturing - in the fields of batteries, robotics, semiconductors, ship-building and nuclear energy; ii] Collaboration in Technology and Innovation, including in AI, Quantum Computing, Space and Biotech; iii] Green Energy Transition; iv] Next-Gen Infrastructure, including mobility, high speed rail and logistics; and iv] Skill development and people-to-people ties.

Prime Minister Ishiba, in his address, noted the interest of Japanese companies in forming partnerships between Indian talent and Japanese technology to build resilient supply chains.

He underlined three priorities between India and Japan: strengthening P2P partnerships, fusion of technology, green initiatives and market, and cooperation in critical sectors of high and emerging technologies, in particular semiconductor.

The report of the 12th India Japan Business Leaders’ Forum (IJBLF) was presented by the co-chairs of IJBLF to both leaders.

Highlighting the burgeoning partnerships between Indian and Japanese Industry, Norihiko Ishiguro, Chairman and CEO of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), announced various B2B MoUs signed between Indian and Japanese companies in a range of sectors such as steel, AI, space, education and skills, clean energy and human resource exchanges.