Japan, India sign bullet train deal

Asian countries drive national development through infrastructure construction, Hong said, adding, “China and India are also cooperating in the high-speed railway sector”. India and Japan share apprehensions about China’s expansionism in regional waters.

Modi said the agreement signed on nuclear energy cooperation was more than just an agreement for commerce and clean energy.

“We will move our ties up to another level”, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, touting the results of their summit meeting. What kind of finance Chinese are willing to bring to the table is important. He recalled that Japan had been a part of many key economic turning points in India, and gave the examples of the Maruti auto, and the DFC (Dedicated Freight Corridor).

He held discussions with the President of India, Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister of India.

Thanking Abe for his support to India’s membership of the APEC, Modi said India will also strive for “our rightful place in a reformed UN Security Council”. The nuclear deal, which will facilitate the building of nuclear power plants in India with Japanese reactors and also ease nuclear commerce with the West – given Japan’s stakes in USA firms like General Electric and Westinghouse as well as France’s Areva – is also politically symbolic. The India-Japan agreement calls on all parties to refrain from unilateral actions that could endanger peace.

The two Prime Ministers reaffirmed the intention to develop “Japan Industrial Townships (JITs)” in India with incentive for companies which invest in the project.

These include working on defence technology, and agreeing a memorandum of understanding on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Japan will provide 1.5 trillion yen ($12.4 billion) in financial assistance to Japanese companies seeking to start operations in India, officials said.

Further deals between the two countries were agreed, meaning they will cooperate on defence by sharing technology, equipment and military information. The amendment is aimed at reducing tax avoidance and evasion.

New Delhi:Apart from bullet trains, India needs high-speed growth, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday while addressing business leaders of India and Japan here with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe. Analysts say despite a 15 percent annual rate of increase in two-way trade, India accounts for only 1.2 percent of Japan’s total trade, and Japan for 2 percent of India’s. Japan is apparently looking for additional non-proliferation guarantees before it exports nuclear reactors to New Delhi, which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.

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.

Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack, has been demanding additional non-proliferation guarantees from India before it exports nuclear reactors.

India has of its own volition re-iterated its commitment on no first use of nuclear weapons and follows a minimum deterrence policy.

A final deal with Japan would also benefit United States firms.

Likewise, the significance of the civil nuclear deal goes beyond the bilateral relations.

The two countries are also likely to sign an agreement allowing the transfer of defense technology and co-production of arms and military equipment.