Girja Shankar Kaura
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral and fruitful meeting with Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida. Prime Minister conveyed his deepest condolences for the demise of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Prime Minister noted the contributions of late Prime Minister Abe in strengthening India-Japan partnership as well in conceptualizing the vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
Modi, who is in Japan to attend the state funeral of Abe, met Kishida ahead of the ceremony. The two leaders had a productive exchange of views on further deepening bilateral relations. They also discussed a number of regional and global issues, an official statement said.
The leaders renewed their commitment towards further strengthening the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership, and in working together in the region and in various international groupings and institutions, the statement added.
“Had a fruitful meeting with PM Kishida. We discussed various bilateral subjects. I conveyed my condolences on the tragic demise of former PM Shinzo Abe,” Modi tweeted, after the meeting. “The two leaders had a productive exchange of views on further deepening bilateral relations. They also discussed a number of regional and global issues,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a brief statement.
Leaders from around the world have gathered in Tokyo to pay tribute to the country’s longest-serving PM Kishida is facing widespread criticism in Japan for organising Abe’s state funeral amid controversy about him and the party’s decades-long relations with Unification Church, the ultra-conservative force accused of collecting huge donations by brainwashing adherents.
State funeral is normally reserved for Japan’s Imperial Family – but Abe has been given the honour as the country’s longest serving PM. As the funeral, which is expected to cost more than $11 million, was being held there were a number of protests across Tokyo by those opposed to Abe being given a State Funeral and the amount that is being spent on it.
The funeral has, reports said, sharply divided the Japanese society with protests, while others saying the Abe deserved a State Funeral. Fans lined up for hours in a queue, which reportedly was more than three kilometers long, to pay their last respect to Abe.
Abe, 67, the former Japanese premier, passed away after he was shot while giving a campaign speech in Nara, a southern Japanese city. He was gunned down at the election rally in July.
