Indian prime minister Narendra Modi met his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba at a Tokyo business forum on Friday and discussed using India's skilled, young workforce to help address labour shortages caused by Japan's aging and declining population.
Both leaders are expected to release a "joint vision" for cooperation over the next decade in areas including security, economy, energy, and human resources and reaffirm their cooperation as part of the Quad framework of regional leaders that also includes the US and Australia.
Mr Modi, who began his trip to China and Japan, is expected to hold talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping on Sunday, as ties between the Asian rivals thaw against the backdrop of US president Donald Trump's imposition of punitive tariffs on New Delhi. Mr Modi is on his first visit to China in seven years to participate in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) regional security bloc, whose members also include Russia and Iran.
“From Metro to manufacturing, from semiconductors to start-ups, India-Japan partnership in every sector became symbol of mutual trust,” Mr Modi said, addressing the India-Japan Joint Economic Forum in Tokyo.
"We believe that Japanese technology and Indian talent are a winning combination," Mr Modi said at a joint press conference with the Japanese prime minister.
Mr Modi said both nations will facilitate the exchange of human resources to the tune of 500,000 people in the next five years.
New figures released by the Japanese government this month showed that the number of Japanese nationals fell by over 900,000 last year, driven by record-low births of just 686,061 and almost 1.59 million deaths.
Japan’s population has been shrinking for 16 consecutive years, falling to 120.65 million in 2024 from its 2009 peak of 126.6 million, according to figures from the internal affairs ministry. Nearly one in three citizens in Japan is now aged 65 or older, while just six in 10 fall within the working-age bracket of 15 to 64.
The two leaders are expected to agree on a goal of boosting Japanese private sector investment in India to 10 trillion yen (£50bn) over the next decade and increasing human resources exchanges to half a million people in the coming five years.
Mr Modi urged Japanese companies to invest in India, saying that reforms have created a more transparent and predictable business environment. "In India's development journey, Japan has always been an important partner," he told the forum hosted by Japan's powerful business lobby Keidanren.
Later in the day, Mr Modi said, "Cooperation in the high technology sector is a priority for both of us". "Semiconductors and rare earth minerals will be at the top of our agenda”.
"Where we are working on high-speed rail, under the next-generation mobility partnership we will also make rapid progress in sectors like ports, aviation and ship-building," Mr Modi added.
Mr Ishiba at the event said the two countries share universal values like democracy and the rule of law and that "Japan's advanced technology and India's outstanding talent, as well as its large market, are complementing each other to a dramatic expansion of our economic ties".
