Japan to offer India USD 42bn in investments during Fumio Kishida's visit: Report
Tokyo, Mar 19: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to announce a plan to invest 5 trillion yen (USD 42 billion) in India over the next five years during his visit to the country on Saturday, according to a media report.
The 5 trillion yen goal exceeds the 3.5 trillion yen in investment and financing over the five years that the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced during his 2014 visit to India, Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported.
Japan is currently supporting India's urban infrastructure development as well as a high-speed railway based on Japan's shinkansen bullet train technology.
Prime Minister Kishida is due to reveal the public-private funding during an economic forum. He is expected to pledge growth in direct investment in terms of value, as well as an increase in Japanese companies expanding into India, the prominent business newspaper said.
Kishida is also poised to agree to an approximately 300 billion yen loan during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An energy cooperation document concerning carbon reduction is expected to be signed between the two sides, it said.
During Saturday's public-private forum, Kishida is also expected to express his support to further infrastructure development in India with the goal of drawing Japanese companies to build factories, the paper said.
India represents the first leg of Kishida's three-day tour. He is scheduled to visit Cambodia on Sunday to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Japan and India are party to the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a security framework known as the Quad that includes the US and Australia. Cambodia serves as this year's chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Kishida plans to confirm the strengthening of security arrangements with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in mind.
In 2020, Japan and India signed an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, which allows for reciprocal provisions of food, fuel and other supplies between the Indian army and Japan's Self-Defense Forces. Kishida and Modi are to reaffirm that they will push that deal forward, the paper said.
Kishida and Modi are expected to agree to convene a two-plus-two meeting between the two countries' diplomatic and defence chiefs at an early date.
This will be Kishida's first overseas trip as prime minister since he traveled to Great Britain in November.
Kishida, 64, is the president of the Liberal Democratic Party since 2021.
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Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
