Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe, his Japanese counterpart, said they would run joint naval exercises and agreed to transfer technology to increase arms production in India.
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JAPAN TO IMPORT MARUTI SUZUKI CARS Modi on Saturday said that for the “first time” India will export to Japan cars which will be made at home by Maruti Suzuki as part of the “Make in India” initiative.
The rail project in India is expected to cost in the region of 980 billion rupee (14.68 billion US billion dollars), with work slated to begin in 2017, with the first high-speed trains going into service on the new line in 2023. During his visit to India past year, Chinese President Xi Jinping had pledged to assist the Indian Railways to modernise its ageing railway system with the introduction of high-speed rail links and upgraded railway stations.
The Indian premier spoke warmly of his friendship with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the power of their political alliance, after agreeing deals on the $15 billion high-speed train, defence technology and civil nuclear co-operation.
The statement said the two Prime Ministers welcomed the agreement reached between the two governments for cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy and confirmed that this agreement will be signed after the technical details are finalised including those relating to necessary internal procedures. Bilateral cooperation in areas like nuclear energy and bullet trains are just baby steps in comparison which together constitute the giant step India and Japan have taken today to counter China.
Explaining why India deeply values the strategic partnership with Japan, Modi said, “No friend will matter more in realizing India’s economic dreams than Japan and I cannot think of a strategic partnership that can exercise a more profound influence on shaping the course of Asia and our interlinked ocean regions more than ours”. Any solution to the issues on these will be in consonance with India’s long-standing policy, he said.
In the joint statement issued after the summit meeting, Japan and India are described as “the largest and oldest democracies in Asia”, and it is emphasized that the two countries are connected by common values. Both leaders evaluated the state of their “special strategic and global partnership” and reviewed the implementation of various decisions taken over the past year on the economic and trade front.
In 1998, when India conducted its nuclear tests, Japan imposed economic sanctions and cut off financial aid to India.
These include working on defence technology, and agreeing a memorandum of understanding on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
A survey conducted two years back by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation for the island nation’s ministry for economy, trade & industry showed some 75 per cent of Japanese businessmen placing India as “the most promising country” ahead of China, Brazil, Vietnam and the US.
“Today, Japan and India are entering a new era of their bilateral relationship”.
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The two Prime Ministers reiterated their help for one another’s candidature, based mostly on the firmly shared recognition that India and Japan are professional candidates for everlasting membership in an expanded Security Council. Earlier this year, Japan agreed to grant India the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.
