India, Japan push ahead with biogas-run vehicle plan

The Japanese and Indian governments will establish a framework to promote vehicles that run on biogas, viewed as an environmentally friendly energy source.

The two sides will aim to increase the number of plants in India that manufacture methane from fermented cow dung for compressed natural gas vehicles to 1,000.

Japan’s Suzuki Motor, which holds the top share in India’s passenger car market, will cooperate on the framework.

The two governments will exchange a memorandum of understanding when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visits India for three days from Wednesday.

Takaichi will hold a summit with her Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on Thursday.

The summit was initially scheduled to take place in Guwahati, in the State of Assam.

In India, Suzuki has begun producing biogas with Global South subsidies from the Japanese government.

The company aims to further promote compressed natural gas vehicles, which account for over 20% of new automobile sales in India.

With a population of about 1.4 billion, India is the world’s third-largest energy-consuming country after China and the United States, but it relies heavily on imports for crude oil.

Therefore, the Indian government is pinning its hopes on Suzuki’s initiative.

Takaichi’s trip to India, her first since taking office in October last year, will be part of what is known as shuttle diplomacy of reciprocal visits by the two countries’ leaders.

She aims to strengthen cooperation between Japan and India in light of the reluctance of US President Donald Trump’s administration to cooperate internationally and China’s growing assertiveness.

“We want to further strengthen our strategic relationship with India by promoting cooperation for economic security and economic growth,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a news conference Friday.

The Japanese and Indian governments initially planned to hold the summit on Wednesday, but it was postponed until the following day.

The change of venue is said to have been requested by the Indian side.

-Japan Times