Context:-Relations between India & Japan: Japan’s Prime Minister recently visited India.

India and Japan, two of the largest and oldest democracies in Asia, having a high degree of congruence of political, economic, and strategic interests, view each other as partners that have responsibility for, and are capable of, responding to global and regional challenges.

Major Initiatives announced during the visit:

• Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP): It is aimed at curbing China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
• The key initiatives of the strategy include promoting respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, opposing unilateral changes by China through force, and improving cooperation to address global challenges.
  • Japan will focus on Southeast Asia, South Asia (particularly Northeast India), and the Pacific Islands.
  • Japan will promote the Bay of Bengal-Northeast India industrial value chain concept
  • It will assist in developing maritime law enforcement capabilities of countries to free oceans from geopolitical risks.
  • Japan’s concept of FOIP is complementary to India’s concept of the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI)
  • India and Japan will assume the presidencies of G20 and G7 this year respectively.