Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is on a two day trip to India to attend the 12th India-Japan annual summit. He was warmly greeted by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.

Following the welcome both the leaders held an 8 km long road show hosted in honour of the Japanese Prime Minister and the Japenese First Lady Akie Abe. Ahead of the road show, Shinzo wore the traditional attire matching his counterpart in a white kurta and blue west.

After the road show both the leaders visited the Sabarmati Ashram, which was the residence of Mahatma Gandhi for quite a long time and now a museum. Later in the day Modi and Abe visited the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, a 16th-century mosque known for its intricate architecture.

Narendra Modi also gave a token of love to his Japanese counterpart by presenting him with a marble statue of the Three Wise Monkeys, a visual aphorism that has its origins in Japan.

The day for both the Prime Minister’s ended with a delicious dinner at the Ahmedabad’s famous Agashiye terrace restaurant, which is known for its splendid view and kosher Gujarati cuisine. The terrace restaurant is a part of the Mangaldas hotel groups. A team of the Chef’s from the Taj group along with the team of Agashiye prepared a mouth watering vegetarian Gujarati platter for the guests. The restaurant also had two government-appointed chefs from the respective countries

The platter included more than 30 dishes mainly the trademarks of Gujarat and also included some Japanese item in case the guests and his delegations wanted to taste something from back home. The platter included khaman dhoklas, raspatra and gota fritters, mushy rice khichdi, saucy kadhi, a bitter gourd and onion sabji called bharela karela-dungri, and flatbreads such as bhakri, rotla and roti and the deep-fried puri. Along with these some other items were also included like curries such as sev-tomato, mixed-vegetable undhiyu, a garlicky potato dish called lasaniya bateta, and an assortment of dals, yoghurt raita and srikhand besides cool masala butter milk. For dessert, ghee-roasted gram flour sweet mohanthal, halwa and juicy jalebi were on the menu.

The Prime Minister’s of both the countries will be holding bilaterals meeting on Thursday. Also, they will jointly launch work on India’s first Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train before a summit meeting in Gandhinagar. This will be the fourth annual summit meeting between the two leaders.

Thursday lunch is also likely to be a vegetarian platter for the PM’s and their respective delegations. Later in the evening before Shinzo Abe leaves for Japan at 9:30 pm, Gujarat Prime Minister Vijay Rupani will be hosting a banquet for the two Prime Ministers.