Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on September 27. Modi is also likely to hold a bilateral meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida.
Abe, 67, was assassinated during a political campaign rally on July 8 in the city of Nara. He was shot twice by 41 year-old Tetsuya Yamagami. Abe succumbed to bullet wounds in hospital. India had declared a day’s national mourning for Abe.
Modi also penned a blog titled “My Friend, Abe San”. “In the passing away of Abe, Japan and the world have lost a great visionary. And, I have lost a dear friend,” he had said. Abe was the longest serving Prime Minister of Japan.
Reports from Tokyo indicated the state funeral of Abe will take place at the Nippon Budokan arena in the Kitanomaru National Garden in Tokyo.
Modi will attend the official farewell ceremony.
India and Japan are cooperating in the Quad format of comprehensive partnership, alongside the United States and Australia. Modi and Abe maintained friendly ties both during and after the latter’s tenure.
Meanwhile, Japan and India are also planning to hold a second round of “two-plus-two” security talks involving their foreign and defence ministers on September 8 in Tokyo, the Kyodo report said on Wednesday.
At the planned ministerial two-plus-two security talks, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada will engage their Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath, the report said. They are likely to discuss joint exercises involving the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the Indian military, among other topics, it said. The two countries launched the two-plus-two framework in 2019.