Modi, Abe to hold annual summit during Dec 15-17

NEW DELHI: India has said the annual summit of the prime ministers of India and Japan will be held during December 15-17 but other details such as the venue and the agenda for the meeting were not announced.

People familiar with planning for the summit said the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will be held in Guwahati city and the two leaders will also travel to the Manipur capital of Imphal to visit the Peace Museum, which commemorates on the fiercest battles of World War 2 in 1944 in which thousands of Japanese troops were killed. External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the summit would be held during December 15-17 but declined to give details. “We expect our ties will become stronger,” he said. As first reported by HT, the two leaders are expected to have interaction at a 19th century colonial riverside bungalow in Guwahati and take a cruise on the Brahmaputra river.

The two sides zeroed in on Guwahati as the venue because of the focus on India’s northeastern states under the Act East Forum launched by India and Japan almost two years ago and the substantial development assistance provided to the region by Tokyo.

The trip to Imphal is expected to be short, with the two leaders flying to Manipur only to visit a World War 2 peace memorial built by the Japanese in 1994 and the Imphal Peace Museum at Red Hill or Maibam Lokpa Ching, which was opened in June.

Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale and Indian and Japanese officials visited Guwhati and Imphal last month to assess arrangements for the meeting.