FASANO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio Kishida and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, agreed Friday to work on setting up a visit to Japan by Modi within this year.

Modi’s possible visit would come as part of the two countries’ program in which their leaders visit each other’s country alternately.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Puglia, southern Italy. India, which is not a G-7 member, was invited to the summit. The G-7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union.

The Kishida-Modi meeting was the first since the Modi-led ruling bloc’s victory in the Indian lower house general election whose outcomes were made available earlier his month.

Noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of Japan and India upgrading their relations to a special strategic global partnership, Kishida said he hopes to deepen and diversify the bilateral ties.

JIJI Press