Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo walk for their meeting, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015.
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The bullet train network will link India’s financial hub Mumbai with Ahmedabad in Modi’s home state Gujarat. The project calls for bullet trains traveling as fast as 300 kilometers an hour on the line between India’s capital and the southern commercial and industrial city.
Addressing a joint press meet with Abe, Modi said, “No friend will matter more in realising India’s economic dreams than Japan” while describing Abe as “a personal friend and a great champion of India-Japan partnership”. Abe’s visit to the Ghat fully decorated with flowers assumed significance as it came against the backdrop of Partner City Agreement between Kyoto and Varanasi, signed by the two leaders during the Prime Ministers visit to Japan in August a year ago.
Agreement concerning transfer of Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation: It provides a framework to enhance defence and security cooperation by making available to each other, defence equipment and technology necessary to implement joint research, development and/or production projects or projects.
India will also extend visas on arrival to Japanese citizens from March 2016, in what it said was recognition of the two countries special relationship.
A memorandum was signed between the two sides for comprehensive technological cooperation including sharing of information and best practices between both countries.
“Strong Japan is good for India and strong India is good for Japan”, he said. The two countries will issue a joint statement on the very first day of Abe’s three-day visit, commencing today.
He also said that this year Japan has made a decision to offer 600 billion yen ($5 billion) under the Official Development Assistance (ODA) to India for infrastructure development.
Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack, has been demanding additional non-proliferation guarantees from India before it exports nuclear reactors. The Indian PM also said that they had discussions on the banks of Ganga and later also shared the pictures of the aarti.
He recalled that, in September 2014, Mr. Abe had spoken of $ 35 billion of Japanese finance and investments for India over five years.
Hiroshi Shimizu, secretary general of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-Bomb Sufferers Organizations said, “We are not sure when India, for some reason, will seek to divert the technology to nuclear weapons”. “That is why we are certain that the final deal will be concluded soon”, Jaishankar said while downplaying Japanese concerns.
Abe, who was wearing a standard Nehru jacket, took half within the holy rituals together with Prime Minister Modi amid chants of holy mantras, flanked by clergymen.
India is a land of possibilities with excellent human resources and a technological base and Japan has been there at every turning point, said Modi.
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Unveiling the new bilateral military cooperation, visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, “We have created a new chapter in India-Japan relationship with important defensive initiatives”.
