• 
• 
• 
• 

[Provisional Translation]

On December 11 (local time), Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Delhi in India.

Prime Minister Abe first received a courtesy call from H.E. Ms. Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister of India, and then accepted an honorary doctorate from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Afterwards, the Prime Minister delivered an address at the Japan-India Innovation Seminar.

During the ceremony for the conferment of the honorary doctorate at Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Prime Minister said,

“Vice Chancellor Sopory, ladies and gentlemen,

I am extremely honored to receive the honorary doctorate from your esteemed university, which bears the name of the first Prime Minister of India.

When I think of Prime Minister Nehru, I think of his exchanges with my grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. Kishi was the first ever Japanese Prime Minister to visit India when he visited in 1957.

He held a summit meeting with Prime Minister Nehru then, and I later heard from my grandfather many times about what it was like. After the summit meeting, Prime Minister Nehru introduced my grandfather to the crowd that had gathered outside. He reportedly said, ‘This is the Prime Minister of Japan, a country I hold in the greatest esteem.’ It had only been ten years or so since the end of World War II, and my grandfather was extremely pleased when he told me how Prime Minister Nehru had proudly introduced even the Prime Minister of a country which was defeated in the war in this manner.

In accepting the honorary doctorate in international relations today, I want to again say what I have always said, which is that the bilateral relationship between Japan and India is blessed with the largest potential for development. of any such relationship in the world.

India is a country with a population of over 1.2 billion people. It is a country that respects freedom and democracy amidst diversity, and upholds human rights and the rule of law. The public and private sectors of Japan will work together and cooperate for the development of India. It is decisively important for the benefit of Asia and the world in the 21st century that Japan and India, as countries sharing fundamental values, cooperate even more closely in every field.

In that sense, I hope to make tomorrow’s summit meeting a groundbreaking opportunity to work with Prime Minister Modi and bring our bilateral relationship to an even higher level.

Regarding Japan studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, I want to cooperate to enhance Japanese language studies and Japan studies here, including a consideration for the potential of a future-oriented Centre of Japanese Studies.

Lastly, I would like to conclude my remarks by again expressing my gratitude for this honorary doctorate as well as my hope for the continued development of Jawaharlal Nehru University and India.”