PM Modi to visit Japan today amidst US tariff threat

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for Japan today on a two-day visit. He will attend the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit on Friday along with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Announcements to enhance cooperation in defence, energy, digital and infrastructure sectors are expected. This is PM Modi's eighth visit to Japan.

As part of the visit, India's DRDO and the Navy will sign agreements with Japanese agencies on defence research and technology transfer. Besides enhancing cooperation in areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and critical minerals, the visit is also expected to announce a Japan mobility partnership that includes infrastructure development in India. Discussions on finding markets for Indian products in Japan to meet the challenge of US tariffs make this visit an important one.

There will also be discussions on the purchase of E10 bullet trains for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project being implemented in collaboration with Japan. Prime Minister Modi will visit the bullet train plant in Miyagi along with the Japanese Prime Minister. The initial decision was to provide India with the E5 series bullet trains currently in use in Japan. However, Japan has promised to provide new E10 bullet trains that can run at a maximum speed of 320 kmph.