Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Japan
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a three day visit to Japan for the annual bilateral summit between India and Japan. On his trip, Modi will work towards strengthening deeper ties with the east-Asian country and close deals left hanging earlier.
India and Japan are expected to sign a civil nuclear deal ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the oriental nation. On his three day visit, the two countries will also discuss ways to upscale cooperation in areas like trade, investment and security.
The civil nuclear cooperation agreement is expected to facilitate leading US-based atomic companies to set up plants in India.
Modi will discuss more of future prospects with the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe at the annual summit meeting. He said he is looking forward to reviewing the entire spectrum of bilateral cooperation when he meets Abe in Tokyo on November 11.
“Our partnership with Japan is characterised as a Special Strategic and Global Partnership. India and Japan see each other through a prism of shared Buddhist heritage, democratic values, and commitment to an open, inclusive and rules-based global order,” he said.
Besides cooperative talks in the fields of economy, security concerns particularly in the context of continuing cross-border terrorism in India from Pakistan, are also expected to come up for discussions between Modi and Abe.
The two countries had agreed on the lines of a broad agreement during Abe’s visit to India last December but due to some legal and technical issues, the final deal was left to be signed. But now the internal legal and technical procedures have been taken care of, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup informed last week.
When specifically asked whether the pact will be signed during Modi’s visit, he only said, “I cannot pre-judge the outcome of the talks.”
Abe too had visited India for three days to hold annual summit talks with Modi. In this 9th annual Indo-Japan summit talk, Modi and Abe had reviewed the implementation of various decisions taken in the year before that to enhance the economic ties, particularly in the trade and investment sectors.
For a number of years, negotiations for the nuclear deal have been going on but the progress on these was paused because of political resistance in Japan after the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.
On his trip, Modi, with Abe as his accompaniment, will also travel to Kobe by the famed Shinkansen bullet train, the technology of which is to be deployed for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Railway.
He will also visit the Kawasaki Heavy Industries facility in Kobe, where high speed railway is manufactured.
Last year, Modi had accompanied Abe on his visit to Varanasi, a spiritual city in north India, where he also attended the aarti, a holy offering on the banks of River Ganga.
