Japan and India agreed several high-profile deals Saturday including on high-speed rail, defence technology and civil nuclear cooperation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in New Delhi.
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Marking a new chapter in centuries-old ties between India and Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will visit this ancient temple town tomorrow.
After the talks, Prime Minister Abe will go to Varanasi to attend “Ganga Aarti” at well-known Dasaswamedh Ghat.
He will call on President Pranab Mukherjee, address the Japan-India Innovation Seminar and also meet business leaders.
On her part, Swaraj briefed the visiting leader on the progress made on various decisions agreed upon by the two prime ministers in their previous meetings, saying he will be happy with the deliverables.
Modi and Abe have recently forged a strong relationship in order to expand commercial and defence ties and push back against the rising influence of China across Asia.
Prabhu He indicated that Japan could help out with India’s first bullet train project as also with the building of railways’ research and design capabilities to address future challenges.
However, some Indian government officials insist the country should use its budget to improve safety on local train lines instead of spending huge sums for high-speed railway projects.
The planned railway line, connecting the 500 kilometers between India’s financial capital Mumbai and the western city of Ahmedabad, will cost about 980 billion rupees ($14.7 billion) and be financed by a low-interest loan from Japan, said the official who asked not to be named. Modi and Abe also met last month on the sidelines of the 13th Asean-India Summit at Kuala Lumpur and again during the Paris climate change conference.
“In order to maintain an open, free and peaceful sea, it becomes important more and more for there to be collaboration between Japan and India, as well as the global community including the USA”, he said in an article published in the Times of India.
India and Japan are going to firm up an action plan for the first bullet train service between Mumbai and Ahmedabad as part of a comprehensive partnership agreement likely to be signed on Saturday by the two countries.
Modi said he knew the significance of the civil nuclear agreement for Japan and assured that India will honour its shared commitments.
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Meanwhile, Abe was conferred with an honorary doctorate in International Relations by Jawaharlal Nehru University here for Japan’s role in India’s economic development. He comes with the conviction that Japan and India have “a bilateral relationship with the greatest potential in the world”.
