Sun Temple Backdrop For Modi-Abe Summit In December?

Will Odisha host Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the ‘yet-to-be-confirmed annual summit between New Delhi and Tokyo in mid-December.

While dates for the submit are being worked out between December 13 and 17, the Indian side is considering Odisha and Assam as a possible venue, according to a report published in the Indian Express.

Though Guwahati in Assam is the first choice, Bhubaneshwar has also emerged as a top contender for the bilateral meeting, owing to its infrastructure and local administration, it said.

The picturesque Sun Temple in Konark in Odisha could provide a backdrop for the meeting between the prime ministers, it added, which would be on the lines of the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Modi in Mahabalipuram in October.

A report in the Hindustan Times, however, said that the two sides had zeroed in on Guwahati as the venue for the summit in view of the focus on India’s northeastern states under the Act East Forum launched by India and Japan almost two years ago and the considerable development assistance provided to the region by Tokyo.

Modi and Abe are expected to cap the two-day summit with a visit to the new Peace Museum in Manipur’s capital Imphal, which commemorates one of the fiercest battles of World War 2 in 1944 in which thousands of Japanese soldiers were killed, it added.

Abe had last visited India in September 2017 and attended a road show organised in Ahmedabad.