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NEW DELHI:India and Japan are likely to announce a slew of infrastructure projects and sign an agreement on maritime domain awareness (MDA) when PM Narendra Modi travels to Tokyo for his third visit on October 28-29.

At a briefing, Japanese ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu quoted Modi as saying that Japan was the cornerstone of India’s Indo-Pacific policy, adding that India and Japan thought alike when it came to the Indo-Pacific. He was answering questions at a briefing organized by the Brookings Institution in New Delhi.

Interestingly, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe will make a rare summit visit to China to meet Xi Jinping on October 26-27, a day before his summit with Modi. As China battles a trade war with the US, Beijing appears to have softened its approach to both India and Japan. In return, Japanese companies are said to be exploring participation in Belt & Road Initiative projects. India remains opposed to the BRI, a fact Hiramatsu acknowledged adding Japan understood and respected India’s position on this. Nevertheless, Modi and Xi Jinping are getting ready to meet on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina in November as well as the East Asia summit in Singapore .

The envoy said the focus of India-Japan relations at present is on defense and security, going beyond economy and investment. However, addressing questions on recent difficulties regarding land acquisition for the bullet train project, Hiramatsu said, “The Prime Ministers have decided to go ahead with this project so I am very confident that under the very strong leadership of the two PMs this will be completed as expected on schedule. Land acquisition is a very important aspect of any infrastructure project. Japanese teams and Indian teams are working very closely with Indian counterparts and have a mutual trust, and I have 100% trust in India to complete this High-Speed Railway project.”

While the defense and security relationship includes a slew of joint exercises and formal negotiations for a LEMOA-like agreement on logistics sharing, called ACSA, eyes are on the possible sale of the US-2 amphibious plane as well as some Japanese submarines. Hiramatsu said discussions have been on for both, though there is no visible progress yet. However, he said Indian and Japanese researchers are already working on developing the unmanned armored vehicle which would be useful for India on hostile border areas.

Infrastructure and connectivity remain the bedrock of India-Japan collaboration. Hiramatsu said after the second meeting of the India-Japan Act East Forum, there was an agreement to develop three national highways in the northeast, as well as an important highway connecting the India-Bhutan border with a point on the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya .

