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.