Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for Japan on Saturday to attend the annual India-Japan bilateral summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

This is PM Modi’s third visit to Japan for the summit and will be his 12th meeting with Abe since 2014.

Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and in the defence and security sector, and leveraging Japanese capabilities for India’s development initiatives will be the highlights of the agenda in the summit which will be held on Monday.

India is the only country with which Japan holds annual bilateral summits while India has a similar arrangement with Russia too.

The summit will be held on October 28 and 29.

In a statement Friday, before leaving for Japan, PM Modi described India and Japan a “winning combination” and said the island nation is New Delhi’s most trusted partner in its economic and technological modernisation.

He said India’s partnership with Japan is of great substance and purpose.

“We have a special strategic and global partnership. Our ties with Japan, both economic and strategic, stand completely transformed in recent years. It is today a partnership of great substance and purpose. It rests on the strong pillars of India’s Act East Policy, and our shared vision and commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” he said.

He said, as democracies, the two countries have shared values and they seek peace and prosperity for all.

“Our complementarities make India and Japan a winning combination. Japan today is one of the most trusted partners in India’s economic and technological modernisations and one of the top investors in India,” he pointed out.

The prime minister said that projects such as Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflect the high level and “strength of our economic engagement”.

“Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Start Up India’… Japanese investors have faith in India’s economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities,” Modi said.

In a special gesture, PM Modi will be hosted by his Japanese counterpart for a private dinner at his holiday home in the picturesque Yamanashi prefecture on October 28, which will be, perhaps, the first such reception to be extended to a foreign leader.

(With agency inputs)