India will see some high-profile visits and virtual interactions in the next few days starting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida followed by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also hold virtual talks with his Australian Scott Morrison.
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida will pay a two-day visit beginning Saturday to hold the 14th India-Japan summit with his Indian counterpart Prime Minister Modi.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said here on Thursday that the summit will be held on Saturday. He said the summit will provide an opportunity for the both sides to review and further strengthen bilateral ties. The two leaders will explore further avenues in commerce and trade.
Japan is part of Quad combine along with India, Australia and the US, and both the leaders are likely to review the situation in the Indo-Pacific. China is flexing its muscle there and has criticised the Quad claiming it will lead to militarisation of the region.
Interestingly, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is likely to come here on March 24 or 25 to hold talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. Bagchi said Modi and Morrison will take part in the second India-Australia virtual summit on March 22. He added that this virtual summit follows the “historic first virtual summit which was held on June 4, 2020 when our bilateral relationship was elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership”.
The leaders will take a stock of progress made on various initiatives under the comprehensive strategic partnership. In June 2020, India and Australia elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a landmark deal for reciprocal access to military bases for logistics support.
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Japan’s PM, UK Secy
to visit India for talks
The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) allows militaries of the two countries to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.
The Australian Navy was part of the Malabar naval exercise hosted by India in November 2020 as well as last year. The navies of the US and Japan were also part of it. Australia was part of the Malabar exercise this year as well.
The British Foreign Secretary is likely to arrive here towards the month-end.