Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe held informal talks at a resort near Mount Fuji on Sunday and visited a robot-manufacturer’s factory, spending about eight hours together on the first day of a two-day summit.

Modi, who arrived in Japan on Saturday evening to attend the 13th India-Japan annual summit, has said the bilateral partnership has been transformed and strengthened as a “special strategic and global partnership”.

The summit will seek to review the progress in ties and deepen the strategic dimension of the bilateral relationship.

Abe received Modi affectionately on his arrival at Hotel Mount Fuji in Yamanashi, 110km west of Tokyo. “Delighted to meet PM @AbeShinzo in the picturesque prefecture of Yamanashi,” Modi tweeted.

Modi and Abe at a hotel at Yamanakako village in Yamanashi on Sunday. PTI

The two leaders “would be holding talks through the day on deepening India-Japan ties”, Modi’s office said.

Yamanashi is surrounded by several mountains, including Mount Fuji, the country’s tallest peak at around 3,776 metres.

The two Premiers took a stroll in the garden, after which Abe hosted a lunch for Modi. The Indian leader presented Abe with two handcrafted stone bowls and dhurries as well as a Jodhpuri wooden chest from Rajasthan.

After lunch, the two leaders visited the FANUC industrial facility, which specialises in automation.

“Taking our cooperation to modern and advanced technologies. PM @narendramodi and PM @AbeShinzo visited the FANUC Corporation, one of the largest makers of industrial robots in the world in #Yamanashi, and toured the robotics and automation facilities,” foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Gifts Modi took for Abe. PTI

Both leaders observed several illustrations of the working of industrial robots. At the motor assembly facility, they witnessed the assembling of a motor by a robot in 40 seconds, officials added.

FANUC contributes to the manufacturing industry in Japan and other countries, including India, by promoting automation and efficiency in manufacturing.

In the evening, Abe hosted Modi to a private dinner at his personal villa near Lake Kawaguchi in Yamanashi as a special gesture.

This is the first time that Abe has invited a foreign political leader to his holiday home in the village of Narusawa.

“Extremely grateful to PM @AbeShinzo for the warm reception at his home. I am truly honoured by this gesture. PM Abe also taught me the Japanese way of eating food using chopsticks!” Modi tweeted.

Modi visits a FANUC Corporation factory in Yamanashi. PTI

In September last year, Modi had hosted Abe in his home state of Gujarat.

“Tete-a-tete in front of a fireplace. Japanese PM @AbeShinzo hosted PM @narendramodi at his personal villa near Lake Kawaguchi in #Yamanashi. PM Modi is the first foreign leader to be invited to the villa,” Kumar tweeted.

After the dinner, the two leaders left for Tokyo by train. Modi and Abe will hold a formal summit in Tokyo on Monday, where the strengthening of bilateral security and economic cooperation are expected to be high on the agenda.

Modi will also address the Indian community and the business forum in Tokyo and attend a series of business events.

Ahead of his departure from New Delhi, Modi had described India and Japan as a “winning combination” and said the island nation was New Delhi’s most trusted partner in its efforts at economic and technological modernisation.

Modi said this would be his 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as Prime Minister in September 2014.

“The India-Japan partnership has been fundamentally transformed and it has been strengthened as a ‘special strategic and global partnership’,” Modi had told Kyodo News on Friday.

During the formal summit on Monday, the two leaders are expected to deliberate on a range of regional and global issues, apart from bilateral ones, including the situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

India is also hoping to have some kind of synergy or integration between Modi’s Ayushman Bharat scheme, the largest medicare programme of its kind in the world, and the Japanese programme, called Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative.

Modi has said that projects such as the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflect the high level and “strength of our economic engagement”.

“Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, Start Up India.… Japanese investors have faith in India’s economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities,” Modi said.