Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit India

By APD Writer Rishika Chauhan

NEW DELHI, September 13 (APD) -- Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe will arrive in India, on Wednesday for a two day visit to attend the 12th India-Japan annual dialogue.

Abe and his wife Akie Abe will arrive in Ahmedabad in the province of Gujarat, which is the home state of Indian Prime Minister Modi, making

Abe, the second leader after China’s President Xi Jinping to visit the province.

Modi and Abe are expected to meet on Thursday and it will be the fourth annual summit between the two since Modi took office in 2014.

Pranay Verma, the joint secretary in-charge of the East Asia division in the ministry of external affairs informed the media that Prime Minister Abe and his wife will also visit the Sabarmati Ashram, which is the home of Mahatma Gandhi, India’s father of the nation. Modi will accompany them on the tour.

Abe and Modi will also attend a ceremony for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad 500-kilometer high-speed railway. Japan is expected to provide $12 billion of soft loans to build India’s first bullet train besides another $12 billion as an incentive package for Japanese companies investing in India.

A statement released by the Indian foreign ministry on Monday stated, “The two leaders will review the recent progress in the multifaceted cooperation between India and Japan under the framework of their ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership’ and will set its future direction.”

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)