The deal to build a high-speed train line between the financial hub of Mumbai and the city of Ahmedabad gives Japan an early lead over China, which is conducting feasibility studies for high speed trains on other parts of India’s dilapidated rail network.
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Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha, has visited the city many times since becoming the Prime Minister in May, 2014 though this is going to be the first occasion when he would be accompanied by a foreign counterpart with plans for a better future for residents of the city.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, poses with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe for photographers before their meeting, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015.
Referring to recent growth in Index of Industrial Production numbers, the Prime Minister said, it reflects that India is a country of opportunities, especially in the light of the global economic slowdown.
Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack, has been demanding additional non-proliferation guarantees from India before it exports nuclear reactors.
Mr. Abe also said that India has become a very attractive investment destination for Japan. “It will become an engine of economic transformation in India”, Modi said in a speech.
We are engaged in wide ranging collaboration in clean energy and energy efficiency technologies that will also create solutions for the benefit of others in the world.
Japan is a major player in the nuclear energy market and an atomic deal with it will also make it easier for US-based nuclear plant makers Westinghouse Electric Corporation and GE Energy Inc to set up atomic plants in India as both these conglomerates have Japanese investments.
India also announced Japan’s participation in the India-U.S. Malabar naval exercises on a regular basis to deal with maritime challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.
We will also strive for our rightful place in a reformed UN Security Council.
This is different from the electronic visa facility that is being extended globally. “Policy decision, effective implementation, states on board these are some of the steps we have taken and the results are visible”, Prime Minister Modi added.
“In a world of intense worldwide engagements, few visits are truly historic or change the course of a relationship”.
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“The two Prime Ministers, on the occasion of the 70th year since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reaffirmed their shared commitment to the total elimination of nuclear weapons”.
