Focus on Indo-Pacific as PM heads to Tokyo

PM leaves for Japan on two-day visit to attend Quad leaders’ summit and hold key bilateral talks with US President Biden

NEW DELHI: The Quad Leaders Summit in Tokyo will review the progress of initiatives launched by the grouping and discuss developments in the Indo-Pacific region, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, with the Indian leader also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with US President Joe Biden, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and Australian PM-elect Anthony Albanese on the margins of the event.

In a statement ahead of his visit to Japan during May 23-24, Modi said the second in-person Quad summit will “provide an opportunity for the leaders of the four Quad countries to review the progress of Quad initiatives”. “We will also exchange views about developments in the IndoPacific region and global issues of mutual interest,” he added.

Modi’s bilateral meeting with Biden will focus on “further consolidation of our multi-faceted bilateral relations” with the US. “We will also continue our dialogue on regional developments and contemporary global issues,” he said.

An event to launch the US administration’s new framework for supply chains, climate action and infrastructure projects and meetings with some of Japan’s top business leaders will dominate the agenda for the first day of Modi’s visit to Japan Monday.

Modi is visiting Tokyo at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart Kishida to participate in the second in-person Quad Leaders Summit on May 24.

On Monday, he will attend the event convened by Biden to launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). The bilateral meeting between Biden and Modi will include a “constructive and straightforward” dialogue along with a continued discussion on the Ukraine situation, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Kishida visited India in March for the annual bilateral summit, and Modi said he will continue his conversation with his Japanese counterpart to strengthen the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership.

“The newly elected Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese will be joining the Quad Leaders Summit for the first time. I look forward to a bilateral meeting with him during which the multifaceted cooperation between India and Australia under the comprehensive strategic partnership, and regional and global issues of mutual interest will be discussed,” Modi said.

During the bilateral summit in March, Kishida and Modi announced their intention to realise public and private investments and financing from Japan worth five trillion yen over the next five years. Japan is home to nearly 40,000 members of the Indian diaspora.

India and countries such as Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore are widely anticipated to join negotiations for the IPEF, though the US and other countries have not made any formal announcement regarding the membership of what is being described by American officials as an economic arrangement for the integration of Indo-Pacific economies.