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INDIA AND JAPAN TO
ACCERELATE NEGOTIATIONS
ON NUCLEAR DEAL

India and Japan today agreed to “accelerate” negotiations for
early conclusion of the much anticipated bilateral civil nuclear
deal.
This was stated by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
during a joint press conference here along with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.
“The two countries will accelerate negotiations for the
early conclusion of the civilian nuclear agreement,” Abe said.
Negotiations for the civil nuclear cooperation agreement have
not made much headway since
Japan was struck by Fukushima nuclear disaster in March, 2011.
While Japan has backed the Indo-US nuclear deal and the
exemptions given to India from international technology sanctions, successive governments in Tokyo have found the going tough in garnering political support for it
in the face of stiff opposition from the non-proliferation
lobby here.
Ahead of his visit, Singh had said, “I do recognise there are
problems in Japan and there are elections to the upper house
which take place later this year.
“But, I do hope that we can make progress in the civil
nuclear energy cooperation.”
On the issue of security and defence ties, Japanese Prime
Minister said it was agreed to further strengthen maritime
security cooperation between the two countries.
Singh on his part said India and Japan are “natural and indispensable partners for advancing peaceful, stable and prosperous Asia Pacific and
Indian Ocean regions”.
He said, “I had wide ranging discussions over the past two
days characterized by the convergence that is fully consistent with our global and
strategic partnership”.
Singh added, “We attach particular importance to
intensifying political dialogue and strategic consultations and
progressively strengthening the
defence relations including naval exercises and collaboration in defence technology, cooperation in hi-
tech, space, energy security and rare earth minerals.”
Japanese Prime Minister said Tokyo will help India in setting up high-speed rail network.
He said Japan will continue to assist Indian in the construction of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project Ministry of External Affairs
Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweeted that India-Japan
reiterated commitment to freedom of navigation and unimpeded commerce based on
the principles of international law, including UNCLOS.
India and Japan also decide to establish a Joint Working Group
to explore modality for the cooperation on the Japanese US-2 amphibian aircraft, he said.
It was also announced that Emperor and Empress of Japan
will visit India as state guests from the end of November to
early December 2013.