Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his official visit to Tokyo for the Annual Summit 2025 at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, held a significant meeting with the Governors of 16 prefectures of Japan on Saturday.

The meeting, facilitated by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), underscored India’s commitment to strengthening sub-national level partnerships under the State-Prefecture Partnership Initiative that was originally launched during the 15th Annual Summit.

According to MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, the discussions revolved around harnessing the untapped potential between Indian states and Japanese prefectures, with a particular focus on boosting cooperation in emerging areas such as advanced technology, innovation, investments, skill development, start-ups, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Prime Minister Modi emphasised that greater engagement at state and prefectural levels would foster deeper people-to-people connections and tangible cooperation in sectors that directly impact economic growth and social progress.

Marking a major milestone in bilateral relations, India and Japan also unveiled a joint vision document titled "India-Japan Joint Vision for the Next Decade: Eight Directions to Steer the Special Strategic and Global Partnership."

This forward-looking roadmap articulates eight key areas of collaboration designed to redefine and strengthen the strategic partnership:

(1) Next Generation Economic Partnership,
(2) Next Generation Economic Security Partnership,
(3) Next Generation Mobility,
(4) Next Generation Ecological Legacies,
(5) Next Generation Technology and Innovation Partnership,
(6) Investment in Next Generation Health,
(7) Next Generation People-to-People Partnership, and
(8) Next Generation State-Prefecture Partnership.

These eight “directions” are aimed at ensuring that the bilateral relationship evolves in line with global shifts in technology, sustainability, security, and societal needs.

Under the Next Generation Economic Partnership, both nations have decided to build upon the achievements of the existing framework, which had set a target of JPY 5 trillion (covering both public and private investment) from Japan to India during 2022–2026.

In recognition of the growing opportunities and synergies, India and Japan have now set a significantly more ambitious target of JPY 10 trillion in private investment. This expansion highlights Japan’s confidence in India’s long-term economic trajectory and its commitment to support India’s development initiatives.

Furthermore, the India-Japan Industrial Competitiveness Partnership (IJICP) will be reinforced to align with India’s "Make in India" initiative by helping enhance product quality standards and integrating globally competitive processes – a move that also ensures smoother entry and operations for Japanese firms across India’s industrial sectors.

In the field of economic security, both leaders recognised the importance of resilient and sustainable supply chain networks. Accordingly, under the Next Generation Economic Security Partnership, India and Japan agreed to actively pursue battery supply chain cooperation.

This entails creating robust frameworks for developing a competitive battery market and fostering a healthy ecosystem for production, innovation, and distribution. Given the centrality of batteries to electric mobility, energy storage, and renewable energy integration, this initiative is expected to catalyse sustainable industrial growth while reducing dependency on external supply chains dominated by a few countries.

Beyond the focus on trade and industry, the joint vision also lays emphasis on driving innovation, sustainable ecological initiatives, healthcare collaboration, and mobility technologies.

These encompass areas such as green hydrogen, clean energy transitions, digital technology exchanges, future mobility solutions including electric and autonomous vehicles, and medical research cooperation—all of which align with the global imperatives of climate action, digital transformation, and resilient healthcare systems.

Significantly, the Next Generation People-to-People and State-Prefecture Partnerships aim to bring citizens and sub-national entities into the mainstream of bilateral engagement, creating opportunities for students, professionals, local governments, and businesses to collaborate and co-develop solutions.

In essence, Prime Minister Modi’s ongoing visit to Japan has laid the foundation for a deeper and more diversified India-Japan partnership that transcends traditional diplomatic and economic cooperation.

By involving Japanese prefectures and Indian states more directly in the partnership and setting ambitious financial and developmental targets, both sides have demonstrated their intent to create a multidimensional framework that will guide the next decade of cooperation.

This strategic alignment not only strengthens bilateral relations but also reaffirms the role of India and Japan as pivotal players contributing to regional stability, prosperity, and innovation-driven growth in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.

Based On ANI Report