India remains non-committal on Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi’s visit plans.
India-Japan summit may shift from Guwahati to New Delhi.
Scheduling and logistical constraints complicate Assam hosting ambitions.
India distanced itself from confirming whether Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's visit will proceed as originally planned, with reports suggesting the much-anticipated Assam leg of the annual India-Japan summit has been shelved due to scheduling constraints and logistical difficulties.
Asked at the weekly Ministry of External Affairs press briefing today whether Takaichi would be received in Guwahati or whether the venue might shift to New Delhi, spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal gave no direct answer.
"We will provide you with detailed information about the Japanese Prime Minister's visit at the appropriate time. Please wait for further updates," he said.
Takaichi had been expected to visit Guwahati from July 1-3 for summit-level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, sources told ThePrint that an ongoing session of Japan's Diet, combined with a tight travel window, had made a visit outside New Delhi logistically difficult to execute.
The Japanese delegation is also expected to include a significant number of leading Japanese business figures, adding further complexity to hosting the visit in Assam.
"Given Prime Minister Takaichi's domestic commitments, including an ongoing session of the Diet, the window between her proposed arrival in India and her departure is quite tight. In view of this and the additional logistical issues connected to a visit outside the capital, the visit is now likely to be held in Delhi," a source told ThePrint.
The development is a setback for Assam, which had prepared visibly for the occasion. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had publicly floated the prospect of the summit being held in Guwahati — which would have marked the first time the annual India-Japan summit was hosted in the Northeast.
The Assam government had begun city beautification work, and Sarma himself had visited the new terminal at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport to inspect facilities in anticipation of the Japanese PM's arrival.
