India and Japan ink pacts on bullet train, N

“The memorandum on civil nuclear energy cooperation…is a shining symbol of a new level of mutual confidence and strategic partnership in cause of peaceful and secure world”, Modi said.

Officials of the Japanese Embassy have been camping in the city for the past few days to take stock of preparations and security arrangements for the visit of Abe, whom Modi is likely to present with artefacts prepared by artisans of Varanasi.

Other agreements signed Saturday included stepping up the transfer of defence equipment and technology, with possible future projects including Japanese-made seaplanes.

In fact, PM Modi’s characterisation of the civil nuclear deal as having a larger strategic import gave a not-so-subtle hint about why Tokyo overcame its historical sensitivity over issues of nuclear proliferation.

Modi said that Make in India is proceeding in mission mode, not just in India, but also in Japan.

He added that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did raise talk about the South China Sea during his conversation with Modi.

India will also extend visa on arrival to Japanese citizens including for business objective fromMarch 1, 2016. “The Malabar naval trilateral is does not have any designated target, and we plan to work with India and the USA for peace, security, freedom of navigation, in the South China Sea and the important energy lanes of Indo-Pacific region”, Mr. Kawamura said.

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”.

On his part, Abe said, “We have taken relationship to new level and buds have turned into blossoms”.

Abe also said that India has become a very attractive investment destination for Japan.

“The two Prime Ministers welcomed the steady progress to realise 3.5 trillion yen of public and private financing to India in five years under the “Japan-India Investment Promotion Partnership” announced during the last annual summit meeting”, it added.

Letter of Intent toward establishing a young researcher’s exchange program between the DST, India and the Japan Society for the promotion of Science: This seeks to establish reciprocal Fellowship program for capacity building and human resource development in frontier areas of Science & Technology.

“If India does a test and recedes from its commitment, it will be quite natural for Japan to review its cooperation with India. But we do not expect or see such a movement”.

Japan on Saturday committed billions of dollars of investments in India, including a $12-billion loan at negligible interest for the much touted “Bullet Train” and another $12 billion for the “Make in India” initiative, besides inking far-reaching pacts on defence and nuclear energy as part of what has been termed as the “Power of 16” agreements.

A bilateral agreement formed between an importing and exporting country to prevent the use of nuclear energy for military purposes.

The fundamental structure of the this agreement is solid, he asserted.

It said in this context, Abe stressed the importance of early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which should lead to nuclear disarmament. “I have been told that $11-12 billion fund has been earmarked for it. This clearly indicates how both the countries can move forward”, he said.

Kawamura asserted that the “in principle’ nuclear agreement could not have been achieved by any other leader from both countries”.