Indo-Japan Inked Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement

India and Japan are now close to signing a civil nuclear cooperation agreement after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe inked an MoU on Saturday. In all, Japan has committed itself for several ambitious infrastructural projects worth more than Dollars 30 billion as the two leaders concluded their talks with a high degree of satisfaction expressing willingness to work shoulder to shoulder on various sensitive issues like South China Sea controversy, climate change, terrorism and the freedom of navigation and over-flying. The holy city of Varanasi decked up for the visit of both the Prime Ministers to attend “Ganga Aarti” at famous Dasaswamedh Ghat on Saturday.

While China had in October played down Japan’s presence in the naval drills saying Beijing was “not that fragile” and had “sound relations” with both India and the United States, the Chinese Foreign Ministry struck a different tone on Monday, warning “relevant countries” to not “provoke confrontation”.

Tokyo will provide India with a $12 billion package of financing and assistance for the train, including a low-priced, long-term loan. As he arrived in India Friday, Prime Minister Abe flagged the importance of their growing security ties, writing in an editorial in the Times of India that “in order to maintain an open, free and peaceful sea, it becomes important more and more for there to be collaboration between Japan and India, as well as the global community including the U.S”. “Recognising the special relationship”, Modi announced visa-on-arrival for Japanese citizens from March 1, 2016.

The high-speed railway project will use technology developed to build Japan’s extensive Shinkansen network-on which trains run at more than 300 kilometers an hour-and will be a welcome update to India’s vast but often inefficient and overburdened railway network, which acts as a break on the country’s economic growth.

India has been trying to upgrade its military equipment and a potential defense agreement to sell US-2 amphibious aircraft to India could turn out to be Japan’s first major military sale after it lifted a postwar ban on the export of defense equipment in 2014.

His comments follow an announcement in October by Maruti Suzuki India, the market leader in India, that it will export its Baleno model to Japan.

The first high-speed train is being planned for the 500km stretch between two western cities of Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The formal signing of the agreement has been put off citing the need to finalise technical details. “The loan is for a period of 50 years with a 15-year moratorium with the interest rate is 0.1 per cent”, said Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

In 1998, when India conducted its nuclear tests, Japan imposed economic sanctions and cut off financial aid to India. “It is a symbol of a new level of mutual trust and strategic partnership”, he stated at a press briefing in the follow-up to the meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “This enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India’s journey into the future”.