Announcing the landmark naval trilateral, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said: “Japan used to be an irregular participant in the Malabar naval arrangement”. Mr Kawamura highlighted the “agreement on transfer of defence equipment and technology cooperation” and the “agreement on security measures for the protection of classified military information”.
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During Abe’s visit to India, the two prime ministers also agreed to deepen defence ties.
After meeting with Abe, who on Friday began a three-day stay in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India greatly appreciates Japan’s “extraordinary” bullet train package of approximately $12 billion and technical assistance “on very easy terms”.
A special finance facility of up to 1.5 trillion Yen has been set up by the Nippon Export and Investment Insurance and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to promote Japanese investments into India.
-A son of legendary Shehnai player late Ustad Bismillah Khan will be performing today at a cultural event in Varanasi to welcome Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The high-speed train project befits the dawn of a new era in the Japan-India economic relationship, he added.
Recognising the important role played by Japan’s ODA, the two sides hoped that the total commitment of Japanese ODA yen loan to India in 2015-16 may reach around 400 billion yen, the highest ever provided to India, it said.
The leaders of Japan and India, Asia’s second and third-largest economies, promised to use their alliance to push areas of mutual interest including reform of the UN Security Council, on which both are seeking permanent seats. “It will become an engine of economic transformation in India”, Modi said in a speech, according to Reuters.
The two Prime Ministers also reaffirmed their desire to further develop dialogue and exchanges between the two countries in the security and defence fields, including through the full utilisation of “2+2 Dialogue”, Defence Policy Dialogue, Military-to-Military Talks and Coast Guard to Coast Guard cooperation.
The two Prime Ministers underlined the need for closer coordination and effective communication, bilaterally and with partners, to address existing and emerging challenges in spheres of security, stability and sustainable development.
Meanwhile, Modi thanked Japan for joining his “Make in India” movement, saying: “I have been told that United States dollars 11-12 billion fund has been earmarked for it. This clearly indicates how both the countries can move forward”. India and Japan have been negotiating a civil nuclear cooperation agreement ever since India got the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group waiver in 2008, but the Japanese have had their concerns with India not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and later because of adverse Japanese public opinion after the Fukushima disaster of 2011.
Abe and Modi called for freedom of navigation in worldwide waters.
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India will also extend visas on arrival to Japanese citizens from March 2016, including for business travellers. Ahead of this visit, there have been apprehensions of whether a nuclear deal between Japan and India would be struck this time.
