<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed his “deepest condolences” for the death of former premier Shinzo Abe to his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The two leaders held a bilateral meeting on Tuesday morning, ahead of the state funeral for Abe. Modi is among some 20 heads of state and government visiting Japan to attend the funeral.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While conveying his condolences, Modi noted Abe’s contributions in “strengthening India-Japan partnership as well in conceptualising the vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region”, the external affairs ministry said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We are meeting today in this hour of sorrow. After coming to Japan today, I find myself feeling more sad because the last time I was here, I had a very long talk with Abe San. I never thought that after leaving, I would have to hear such news,” Modi said in his opening remarks at the meeting, speaking in Hindi.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Modi said Abe and Kishida, in his former role of the foreign minister, took India-Japan ties to new heights and expanded them in many areas. “Our friendship and the friendship of India and Japan played a huge role in creating a global impact,” he said. The people of India remember and miss Abe, he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Modi and Kishida had a “productive exchange of views on further deepening bilateral relations”, the statement said. They discussed a number of regional and global issues.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The leaders also renewed their commitment towards further strengthening the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership, and in working together in the region and at various international groupings and institutions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Abe, Japan’s longest serving prime minister, was assassinated during an election campaign meeting on July 8. India had announced one day of national mourning on July 9 as a mark of respect for Abe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Besides attending Abe’s state funeral at the Budokan, a famous indoor arena originally built for the 1964 Olympics, Modi will participate in a greeting occasion at Akasaka Palace, where Kishida and Akie Abe, the former premier’s widow, are expected to be present.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Abe and Modi elevated bilateral relations to the status of a special strategic and global partnership in 2014. The “Confluence of Two Seas” speech by Abe at a joint session of India’s Parliament in 2007 laid the ground for the emergence of the Indo-Pacific region as a contemporary political, strategic, and economic reality, and his contributions to bilateral ties was recognised when India conferred the Padma Vibhushan on him in 2021. Source: HT</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>