Japanese PM Shinzo Abe wraps up ‘fruitful and historic’ India visit

Terming defence pacts as “decisive steps in our security cooperation”, Modi said they will deepen the defence relations and promote defence manufacturing in India.

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

However, he said that a stronger India was in the interest of Japan and vice versa.

The joint statement also refers to issues in the South China Sea, where China has been building artificial islands, though it does not mention China by name.

“I expect India will act responsibly and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes”, Abe said during a press conference.

“No friend will matter more in realising India’s economic dreams than Japan”, Mr Modi said, describing Mr Abe as “a personal friend and a great champion of India-Japan partnehip”.

New Delhi has been insisting on right to reprocess nuclear fuel to be procured from Japan. The government aims to first have Shinkansen bullet trains run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the route over which Japan and India agreed to introduce the Shinkansen system at the latest summit meeting, and then expand the system to other routes in India as well as in Southeast Asia.

“This enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India’s journey into the future”, Modi said of the deal.

“I know the significance of this decision for Japan and I assure you that India deeply respects that decision and will honor our shared commitment”, Modi added.

For India and Japan, a psychological Rubicon has been crossed with the finalisation of the “substantive” portion of the civil nuclear deal, which will now allow third country firms with Japanese partnership to enter the Indian N-market. “It was ambitious”, Modi said of the pledge.

He said the two countries were engaged in wide ranging collaboration in clean energy.

India and Japan on Saturday signed an MoU on civil nuclear energy, with the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT) not a hindrance to the negotiation, as per the Ministry of External Affairs.

It said that the defence agreements signed further strengthens the foundation of “deep strategic ties”.

The two Prime Ministers reaffirmed their intention to work together for the early realisation of United Nations reforms, particularly the Security Council reform, to better reflect the realities of the worldwide communication the 21st century. Modi explained this will be different from the electronic visa facility extended globally. In a world of intense global engagements, few visits are truly historic or change the course of a relationship.

In all, Japan has invested some $19.6 billion in foreign direct investment in India between April 2000 and September 2015. It has been demanding additional non-proliferation guarantees from India before it exports nuclear reactors. “We expect to export 20,000 to 30,000 units in a year”. He recalled that Japan had been a part of many key economic turning points in India, and gave the examples of the Maruti vehicle, and the DFC (Dedicated Freight Corridor).

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi laughed after signing an agreement at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Saturday.

As India tries to balance its economic growth with sustainable development, New Delhi is keen to increase its use of nuclear power but the two sides are still some distance away from a nuclear deal.