Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will visit India later this week as part of a six-nation tour in Asia and Africa, where he plans to focus on Japan’s cooperation with the Global South and the Indo-Pacific policy unveiled by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Delhi in March this year. Mr. Hayashi, who also travelled to Delhi earlier this year to attend the Quad Foreign Minister’s meeting, is expected to hold meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, business, and academic delegations. He will discuss bilateral ties, as well as continuing efforts to coordinate priorities of Japan’s Presidency of the G-7 with India’s Presidency of the G-20.
At a press conference in Tokyo, Mr. Hayashi said that his focus during the visit to India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, South Africa, Uganda, and Ethiopia was on enhancing ties with “South West Asia and Africa”. In early July, Mr. Hayashi hosted Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto in Tokyo for a bilateral visit.
“Strengthening relationships with international partners, including those in the Global South, is something that Japan attaches great importance to at this year’s G-7 Presidency, and this round of visits is one such initiative,” Mr. Hayashi told journalists.
“In addition, the Government of Japan intends to further strengthen relations with the countries of South West Asia and Africa toward the realisation of a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’, and we would like to hold discussions with these countries from this perspective,” he added.
In the Indo-Pacific policy address PM Kishida made in Delhi, he had emphasised a special focus on South Asia, including assisting Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring process in a “fair and transparent” manner, as well touting Japanese cooperation with India and Bangladesh for the Bay of Bengal-Northeast India “industrial value chain concept” to foster growth in the region.
Mr. Hayashi is one of a number of Japanese Ministers and dignitaries visiting India this month. Last week, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Yasutoshi Nishimura and India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw signed an MoU on semiconductors including design and manufacturing collaborations. Health and Labour Minister Katsunobu Kato travelled to India for G-20 Ministerial meetings, and Mr. Kishida’s Advisor Masako Mori also visited India last week ahead of Mr. Kishida’s visit for the G-20 in September. In addition, former PM Yoshihide Suga was in Delhi in July with a 100-strong delegation as Chair of the Japan-India Association (JIA) that met with PM Modi and held a business summit.
Mr. Hayashi’s visit to India, Sri Lanka and Maldives is expected to focus on development initiatives undertaken by Japan in the region. His visit to Africa will also look at projects under consideration, while his visit to South Africa, which comes a month before the BRICS summit of emerging economies there, is expected to see significant announcements.
