Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono will be on his maiden visit to India from 7-9 January to discuss with the Indian leadership the progress in bilateral ties since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Tokyo in October.

The Japanese Embassy in New Delhi confirmed that Kono would hold various engagements, including meetings with leaders of the Indian Government.

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The visit comes close on the heels of a trip by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi who was in New Delhi recently to launch with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj the India-China cultural and people-to-people exchanges mechanism.

India and Japan have been working closely on several projects. The two countries are also negotiating a logistics sharing deal that would allow their armed forces to share military facilities.

The visit will provide the two countries an opportunity to identifying the projects they propose to jointly undertake under the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), an economic cooperation initiative seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Last week, a top Japanese source had told the media in New Delhi that the two countries would first undertake joint projects in impoverished North African nations that would be beneficial for the people.

Japan has also started working on certain projects in India’s North-Eastern region, particularly in states like Meghalaya and Manipur.

Kono is also expected to discuss with New Delhi the status of bilateral civil nuclear cooperation which has not made much headway despite the nuclear deal between the two countries becoming operational in July 2017.