In a televised joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, Indian PM Narendra Modi said no other country has played such a “decisive role” in India’s economic transformation as Japan.
Advertisement
The memorandum of understanding signed on civil nuclear energy is also seen as a vote of confidence by Tokyo in New Delhi, but officials said the final agreement will only be signed after technical details are finalized.
The bullet train will run between the western cities of Mumbai and Ahmadabad, reducing the seven- to eight-hour journey along 505km of rail to two hours. Defence expert Rajeev Nayan cited the nulear deal to be a positive step and appreciated India for taking such a good initiative on both the safety and security fronts.
Apparently, the Indian side gave assurances to Japan’s strong non-proliferation lobby to expedite the deal, the Japanese preferred to play safe and sought time for Prime Minister Abe to convince the Japanese parliament on the assurances.
This aims at promoting direct investment from Japan to India and to support their business activities with counterparts in India, including development of necessary infrastructure, and to help materialise “Make-in-India”, it said. Mr Modi also tweeted that a convention centre would be built in Varanasi with Japanese assistance.
The two sides inked key defence agreements – one concerning the Transfer of Defence Equipment and Technology and another related to Security Measures for Protection of Classified Military Information.
It also said that maintenance of the peace and tranquility in the Indo-Pacific waters was a shared goal of the two countries.
S.P. Udayakumar, a leading figure in India’s anti-nuclear movement, also joined the event via Skype, condemning Japan for trying to sell nuclear power even though its own people are struggling due to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
After the talks, Modi also announced that “Recognising our special relationship, India will extend “visa on arrival” to all Japanese citizens from 1st March 2016″. The two leaders spent about 45 minutes at the Ghat in Modi’s parliamentary constituency where they watched the Ganga Aarti, an exquisitely choreographed ritual performed daily on the banks of the river.
Sadayuki Sakakibara, Co-Chairman, India Japan Business Leaders Forum, stated that Japan looks forward to continued action on the part of India in areas like ease of doing business, land acquisition, Goods and Services Tax, among others.
The Bullet train plan is a win-win strategy for both India and Japan.
Advertisement
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”. He stressed that the close relationship between the two countries was important from the strategic point of view.
