The forthcoming visit of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India on 20 August is going to unfold a series of initiatives in furthering Indo-Japanese bilateral relations in all their comprehensiveness. The idea of comprehensive strategic partnership conceived during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Tokyo last December seems to be taking shape and it will be further bolstered when Abe meets his counterpart in India and also meets business leaders with a view to sculpt an era of prosperity and to their mutual advantage.

True, Abe is sitting in the midst of a political volcano at home, following the defeat of his party in the recently held House of Councilors elections. This defeat may propel Abe to re-look his policy priorities in the domestic front, which may surely see bumpy ride in carrying out structural reform. Nevertheless, his foreign policy priorities are unlikely to witness major change.

An enlightened leader that Abe is, he is seized of the fact that his popularity rating has registered a steep nosedive and the loss of public confidence at home might render him ineffective as a political leader. But his love for building harmonious relationships with Japan’s immediate neighbours as well as the southern part of Asia does not show any sign of diminishing. The basic premise on such an Asia-centric policy frame emanates from the realisation of the fact that Japan’s economic vulnerability increasingly makes compelling reason for Japan to remain engaged in the region economically, politically, and strategically. The cultural factor further reinforces and strengthens such a policy approach.

Against this background, Abe’s visit is going to open up large vistas for deepening and broadening India-Japan relations in all their dimensions. So far, India-Japan relations have been focusing predominantly on the economic aspects. However, the century-old cultural ties are being re-discovered and the things that bound two nations for centuries through Buddhism and spiritual roots are being viewed to give spine to the blossoming relationships. Not only that, the economic complementarity is paving way for a defence and security dimension to the relationship as this has a direct linkage to consolidating and furthering economic growth.

Though there is a darker side to the Abe’s government in Japan, which may be perceived as detrimental to Japan’s external orientation policy approach, Japan can ill afford to underplay its external profile, whatever the domestic compulsions may be, in view of Japan’s dependence on the outside world. A little known truism of Japan is that whatever forward looking approach that any government under whatever political party may be pursuing, the average citizen in Japan seems to have little concern for the leaders’ external political agenda. Therefore, much whatsoever Prime Minister Abe may have tried to carry out structural reform in order to stimulate the economy as well as address to domestic issues, the people have not taken kindly Abe’s approach. His foreign policy has been perceived hawkish, much to the disliking of the average Japanese people. What the Japanese people expect from Abe is that he should devote much attention to set the house in order first before launching an aggressive foreign policy to assert Japan’s global role. What is to be commendable in Abe’s foreign policy agenda is that his foreign policy has a greater Asian orientation, which may not be to the liking of its ally partner in Washington.

Exploiting the vast potentialities to their mutual advantage and benefits has been the new mantra for both India and Japan. The highlight of Prime Minister Abe’s visit to India will have a strong economic component. The new hotspot of Japan’s economic focus in India is now the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial corridor (DMIC), a US$90 billion initiative, which has caught the imagination of Japanese companies. That Abe will be accompanied by almost 100 businessmen, many of them CEOs of top Japanese companies is a demonstration of Japan’s intent to engage in a strong economic partnership with India. In fact, many of these companies, like Mitsui, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Honda and Orix have started identifying potential areas of investment around this corridor.

The DMIC project is very important for both India and Japan. It will provide investment opportunities for Japanese companies on an unprecedented scale. Work on the 1,483-km industrial corridor is expected to start next year. As many as 250 projects would be part of the corridor in sectors such as roads, ports, industrial parks and SEZs. It is expected that Abe may announce a Japanese contribution to the US$250 million project development fund for the corridor. A detailed report for the DMIC project is expected by both countries by the end of the year.

Abe also will be bringing with him 12 vice-chancellors of to Japanese universities on an educational mission to India. This will provide an opportunity for the top Japanese university officials to negotiate with their Indian counterparts to institutionalise exchange programmes and starting up research projects and thereby strengthening the knowledge industry.

The Left’s reservation of India in developing strategic and security partnership will be subsumed in Abe’s planned visit to Kolkata where he is expected to unfold such an economic agenda which the Left government will find difficult to resist but is likely to welcome in open arms. Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemicals is said to be the most successful foreign investment in Bengal and Abe would certainly like to use that as a model to take the Indio-Japanese partnership forward. Abe will also visit Netaji Bhavan. A homage to Rabindranath Tagore is also on the cards as is the inauguration of a new Japanese cultural centre for Kolkata. There is also the fond memory with gratitude of Justice Radha Binodbihari Pal that the Japanese remember and Abe is likely to convey to the Kolkatans.

That the Japanese economy is on a revival path is good news for India. Japan’s GDP accounts for 10 percent of the world GDP and Japanese economy is growing 2 to 3.3 percent for the past 2-3 years, ahead of the world average of 2.7 percent. Japanese economy is consumetric; that the Japanese consumer is willing to pay for new technology and new innovation is always encouraged. Japan spends 3.5 percent of the GDP in technology development (US 2.7 %, Germany 2.5 %), which puts Japan as the centre for technology innovation and Research and Development. So, doing business with Japan such impressive characteristics and principles should be to India’s advantage, which Indian entrepreneurs must seize. Abe visit is likely to help develop a roadmap for future diversified and deepened economic cooperation.

(Dr Rajaram Panda, a specialist on Japan, works as the Chief Programme Officer at The Japan Foundation, New Delhi. Views expressed are personal.)