Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will make a three-day trip to India in early July to meet with her Indian counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will be the Japanese PM’s first official visit to India after taking office in October last year.
As per the official statement, the Japanese PM’s visit will focus on increasing cooperation to achieve mutual economic growth. Both countries, which have been historically close partners, will also seek to deepen their strategic partnership amid growing geopolitical uncertainties.
As per reports, the five key areas of cooperation between India and Japan will be semiconductors, critical minerals, clean energy, digital infrastructure, and medical goods.
A development likely to be is issuance of a joint declaration on economic security, reflecting the increasing importance India and Japan attach to safeguarding critical industries, emerging technologies, and strategic supply networks. The declaration will come at a time when concerns over China’s tightening export controls on critical minerals and advanced technology components have prompted major economies to diversify supply chains and reduce dependence on a single source.
India and Japan, both seeking to strengthen domestic manufacturing capabilities, view closer economic cooperation as essential to avoiding the adverse effects of such Chinese export controls.
Notably, China has introduced a series of export control measures in recent times when it comes to rare earth minerals. Stringent rules have been introduced by China that have to be followed if you want to get these rare earth minerals. There have Having 60% of the mined production, and 90% of the refining and processing capacity of the world, China seeks to use this advantage to negotiate with other countries through these controls.
Rare earth magnets are crucial for the existence of modern-day technology. These are the minerals that give power to electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, laptops, and smartphones, thus, making a huge breakthrough possible in the technology field. Controlling their supply gives China a huge edge in the modern world.
