New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for China on Saturday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, shortly after concluding a two-day trip to Japan.
India and Japan finalized 13 agreements and declarations, unveiling several initiatives to deepen their special strategic and global partnership following talks between PM Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Tokyo set an investment target of 10 trillion yen (about Rs 60,000 crore) in India over the next decade, and the two sides announced a framework for defence cooperation and a 10-year roadmap to elevate economic ties.
The new economic security architecture aims to strengthen supply chain resilience across semiconductors, clean energy, telecom, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, and other emerging technologies. The countries also signed an implementing arrangement for Chandrayaan-5, a joint mission to explore the Moon’s polar region.
During the visit, the Prime Minister met governors of 16 Japanese prefectures and called for closer state–prefecture collaboration. He later travelled with Ishiba to Sendai (Miyagi prefecture) to visit a semiconductor plant. Modi said the outcomes laid a foundation for a “new and golden chapter” in India–Japan ties, calling the cooperation vital for global peace and stability.
Modi will attend the SCO summit in Tianjin on August 31 and September 1, marking his first visit to China in seven years. The meeting of the 10-member grouping comes amid a shifting regional backdrop, including recent strains in India–US trade ties following 50% tariffs on Indian exports imposed by Donald Trump.
