PM Modi, Shinzo Abe meet in Bangkok; review progress of bullet train project

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a one-to-one and a delegation-level meeting with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of 35th ASEAN Summit here.

Both sides discussed preparations for the India-Japan 2+2 Dialogue and Annual Summit later this year.

"One constant in today's dynamic world- strong India-Japan cooperation. PM @narendramodi met with Japanese PM @AbeShinzo on the sidelines of @ASEAN2019TH in Bangkok. Good discussion on preparing the ground for India-Japan 2+2 Dialogue & Annual Summit later this year," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Prime Minister Modi's office, in a tweet, said: "Greater momentum to cooperation with Japan. Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @AbeShinzo met in Bangkok. Their talks were extensive and productive."

"Prime Minister Modi said that he eagerly looked forward to welcoming Prime Minister Abe in India next month for India-Japan Annual Summit. He also said that he was convinced of the success of the forthcoming Annual Summit in further deepening the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership," the MEA said in a release.

The leaders also reviewed the progress on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project and reaffirmed their commitment to advance mutual efforts to facilitate the smooth implementation of the project.

"The two Prime Ministers also reaffirmed their commitment towards a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region based on a rules-based order. They agreed to further strengthen the bilateral cooperation, including in third countries, for achieving the shared objective of peace, prosperity and progress of the Indo-Pacific region," read the release.

Along with the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and other dignitaries attended the meeting.