Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday welcomed the deepening of the strategic and global partnership between India and Japan and said he was looking ahead to visiting the country later this year. He made the comments in a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office after a visit from Japan’s Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera.

Modi said defence cooperation was a key pillar of bilateral ties and appreciated the progress the two countries have made in defence technology cooperation. He also welcomed the strengthening of defence dialogue mechanisms as well as the ties between the armed forces of the two countries.

The prime minister recalled his association with Japan since the time he was the chief minister of Gujarat. He also spoke about Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s successful visit to India last year.

Onodera also met his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman and held delegation-level talks on bilateral defence cooperation.