India, Japan eye accelerating collaboration across semiconductors, pharma, critical minerals
Tokyo, July 4
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi completed her three-day visit to India and underlined five areas to fast-track the partnership between India and Japan, namely semiconductors, critical minerals, information and communications, clean energy, and pharmaceuticals.
Sharing visuals and a message after completion of her visit to India, she underlined in a post on X that during the visit, in addition to a summit meeting and dinner with Prime Minister Modi, she attended economic events, and as a "trusted partner sharing strategic direction," India and Japan were able to outline a path forward for the kind of cooperation to pursue over the medium to long term.
"In the field of security, we made progress on concrete cooperation, including agreement on promoting the transfer of defence equipment and holding a 2+2 ministerial meeting this year," she said.
Takaichi further underlined, "In the area of economic security, we issued a joint declaration that incorporates specific cooperation to accelerate collaboration in five key areas: semiconductors, critical minerals, information and communications, clean energy, and pharmaceuticals. Moreover, reaching agreement on broadly advancing cooperation toward energy diversification and stable supply is, from the perspective of Japan's energy security, a highly significant achievement."
Signficantly, she said that at the economic events, together with Japanese companies eager to expand investment in India and pursue innovation partnerships, discussions were held on linking "India's growth potential to Japan's own economic growth."
Looking ahead to the 75th anniversary next year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and India, Takaichi said that the two partners look forward to creating economic growth together for both countries.
"We will continue to take the lead in realizing a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" (FOIP) and work energetically to contribute to peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and the broader international community," she said on X.
Takaichi was on a three-day official visit to India from July 1 to July 3 at the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, during which she participated in the 16th India-Japan Annual Summit, where both leaders reviewed the full spectrum of bilateral cooperation and discussed regional and global issues of mutual interest.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Good initiative but I hope this isn't just another MoU signing. We've seen so many announcements with Japan over the years and the actual progress on ground has been slow. The critical minerals part is interesting though - with our lithium finds in J&K, maybe we can work together on processing tech.
As someone working in pharma, this is brilliant news! Japanese precision + Indian manufacturing scale = unbeatable combo. We can make quality generics and biosimilars for the world. But hope the small companies also benefit, not just the big players. 🇮🇳❤️🇯🇵
The energy diversification and clean energy cooperation is crucial for India's net-zero goals. Japan's expertise in hydrogen and nuclear tech can help us. But we also need to ensure technology transfer happens with fair terms - not just Japan selling us finished products. Joint R&D centers would be ideal.
Interesting to see the FOIP concept being pushed strongly. This partnership clearly has strategic dimensions beyond economics - counterbalancing China's influence in the Indo-Pacific. For India, maintaining strategic autonomy while deepening ties with Japan and Quad partners will be key. The defense equipment transfer is noteworthy.
My concern is about the pharma sector - Japan has very strict regulatory standards. While this raises quality, it might make medicines expensive for common Indians. We need to ensure the benefits reach our public health system, not just boost exports. Also hope this creates jobs for our youth in semiconductor fabs! 💼
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