Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visited India for the first time to attend the 16th India-Japan Annual Summit. The meeting showcased the “special strategic and global partnership” between the two countries, with a focus on economic security and supply chain diversification. These issues are especially important now, since the two countries seek to rely less on China.

Yet behind these strategic priorities was an important human dimension. At last year’s summit in Tokyo, Narendra Modi and then-prime minister Shigeru Ishiba agreed on an Action Plan for Human Resource Exchange. They planned to move more than 500,000 people between the two countries over five years, including 50,000 skilled Indian workers for Japanese industries. Prime Minister Takaichi’s visit reaffirmed this goal.