During the?14th India-Japan Annual Summit,?Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held "productive" talks with Kishida?on a wide range of issues, including ways to further boost bilateral economic and?cultural ties. The regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine, were?also discussed.

In a statement following their talks, Kishida called the Russian aggression a very serious event that shook?the foundation of international order. He said the unilateral change of status quo by force in any region should not be allowed.?

The two countries signed six agreements during the summit, in addition to a separate?clean energy partnership.

Calling for further deeping of India-Japan ties in the context of COVID-19 and ongoing geopolitical developments, Modi said the relationship between the two countries is important not just for their two countries?but for the?world.?

He said, "The world is still grappling with the adverse effects of COVID-19. There are still challenges to global economic recovery. Geopolitical developments also present new challenges.

"In this context, the deepening of India-Japan partnership is not just important for our countries. The deepering of our partnership will promote peace, prosperity, and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and the entire world as well."

Regarding the clean energy partnership, Modi said, "India and Japan understand the importance of secure, trusted, predictable, and stable energy supplies. This is critical to fulfil the goal of sustainable economic growth and the issue of climate change. Our clean energy partnership will prove to be a decisive step in this direction."

Before leaving for India, Kishida had?called the Russian invasion of Ukraine “an outrage that undermines the very foundation of the order of the international community, including Asia” and added such actions should never be allowed in the Indo-Pacific region.?

The Saturday's summit was the first between leaders of the two countries since 2018, as the summit in 2019 scheduled to take place in Guwahati was cancelled because of violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Assam. The summit could not be organised in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19.

With PTI inputs