Message from the Ambassador of India Celebrating Republic Day 2025

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On the occasion of India's 76th Republic Day, I extend my warm greetings to Their Majesties, the Emperor and the Empress of Japan, and the Government and the people of Japan. I also take this opportunity to convey special greetings to fellow Indian nationals and friends of India in Japan, who are important stakeholders in the progressive India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership.

India and Japan have a special relationship rooted in shared values of democracy, freedom, and rule of law, mutual respect, and a common vision for the future. Last year in 2024, we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership. Over the last decade, we have seen our partnership evolve into a robust and multifaceted relationship, firmly rooted in a vision for a free, open, inclusive, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific. This strategic convergence is reflected in our active collaboration in multilateral and plurilateral groupings including the Quad.

*Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on October 10, 2024. (©Prime Minister's Office)*

Warm Engagement in 2024

Over the past year, there has been excellent momentum in the high-level engagements between India and Japan signifying the strong fundamentals of our bilateral partnership. Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met with Honorable Prime Minister Mr Shigeru Ishiba on the sidelines of the East Asia summit in Laos within Prime Minister Ishiba's first month in office.

Prior to that, Prime Minister Modi had met with then Honorable Prime Minister Mr Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the G7-Summit in Italy, and the QUAD summit meeting in the US. These three summit-level meetings in the 10th year of our Special Strategic and Global Partnership reaffirmed the commitment of both countries to strengthening bilateral cooperation across multiple domains while recognizing the indispensability of the India-Japan partnership for a peaceful, safe, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

On the strategic front, various bilateral dialogues were held in 2024 including the 16th and 17th Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue in Tokyo and New Delhi respectively. Our Foreign Ministers also met on the sidelines of the G7 Ministerial Meeting in Italy.

Honorable Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan Mr Fukushiro Nukaga visited India in July/August 2024.

Defense and Security Cooperation

Our defense and security cooperation is a shining example of the significant progress in our bilateral partnership, with increased joint exercises, exchanges, and co-development initiatives marking a new chapter in our collaboration. Our defense ministers met on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting in Laos.

The third edition of the 2+2 Foreign and Defense Ministerial Dialogue, in New Delhi, was a major milestone, leading to several important outcomes and decisions. These discussions led to the recent signing of the Memorandum of Implementation for the procurement of UNICORN for the Indian Navy, a particularly noteworthy achievement. This is the first-ever instance of co-development and co-production of defense equipment between India and Japan, and we are confident that this achievement will open the door for further cooperation in this critical area.

Major defense bilateral exercises like Dharma Guardian and JIMEX 24 and multilateral exercises like Malabar and Tarang Shakti were held in 2024, further augmenting the interoperability between our armed forces. The Coast Guards of our two countries have regular exchanges as well.

*Dr Vibha Dhawan speaks at the RD20 in New Delhi on December 3. (screenshot from Zoom, © JAPAN Forward)*

Strengthening Each Other's Economic Security

One of the highlights of our progressive partnership this past year was the inaugural India-Japan Economic Security Dialogue, including Strategic Trade and Technology, held in Tokyo. This dialogue was held out of a recognition of closer collaboration to protect economic interests and build resilient supply chains in an increasingly unpredictable geopolitical environment. It also provided an excellent opportunity to promote collaboration in research and application of critical technologies including AI and quantum computing.

A prominent example of this cooperation is also the semiconductor sector, where leading Japanese companies are contributing to the development of a strong semiconductor ecosystem in India. Similarly, our partnership in clean hydrogen is gaining significant momentum, with the private sectors of both countries working together on initiatives such as hydrogen supply from India to Japan and ammonia co-firing technology.

The economic partnership continues to be an important pillar of the India-Japan cooperation. India and Japan have set an investment target of ¥5 trillion JPY ($32 billion USD) by 2027. It is satisfying to note that significant progress has been made on this target. India's economic resilience and dynamism, reform-driven robust growth, ease of doing business, skilled workforce and a burgeoning startup ecosystem, have all been critical to the rise in Japan Inc's presence in India.

The People-to-People 'Bedrock'

People-to-people exchanges form the bedrock of our relationship. India and Japan are currently discussing proposals and ideas to strengthen our cooperation in the field of human resource and personnel exchanges. The year 2024 was designated as the India-Japan Year of Tourism 2.0, with the theme "Connecting Himalayas with Mount Fuji."

In September 2024, "India Month" was organized in Japan and "Japan Month" was organized in India. There is great interest among the prefectures of Japan and the states of India in engaging with each other, and this was reflected in several high-level visits in 2024. We expect that India's participation in Osaka World Expo 2025 will further strengthen the business-to-business cooperation and people-to-people contact between our two countries.

Visions of Shared Democracies

2024 was also domestically a significant year for India marked by the successful conduct of the 2024 General Elections, the largest exercise in democracy ever seen in the history of humankind, with over 900 million eligible voters. This democratic exercise stood as a testament to our commitment to representative governance and the strength of our democratic institutions.

As a fast-growing large economy, India has a vision and an ambition to become a developed nation by 2047, the 100th year of Indian independence, with prosperity for all. Japan has been a valued partner of India in this journey, and I am confident that the India-Japan partnership will continue to strengthen and prosper in a safe, secure and sustainable world.

Author: HE Sibi George, Ambassador of India to Japan

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