Japan and India agree to promote strategic partnership

Japan and India on May 29 pledged to further promote their strategic partnership through enhanced bilateral cooperation in various fields.

In a joint statement issued after talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, who is visiting Tokyo, the two sides agreed to enhance political exchanges through bilateral mechanisms, including the Strategic Dialogue between the two countries' Foreign Ministers and the "2+2" meetings between top officials of foreign affairs and defense.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo. (Source: AFP)

The two sides pledged to deepen defense ties and maritime cooperation, including by increasing regular joint exercises between the Japan Coast Guard and the Indian Navy and establishing a joint working group to study the possibility of exporting Japan's US-2 amphibious aircraft to India.

The two leaders also agreed to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the fields of civil nuclear, liquefied natural gas and other energy projects, and to promote bilateral talks on a civil nuclear cooperation agreement, before Japan exports technology and equipment for the construction of nuclear power plants in India. These talks, which were initiated in June 2010, were suspended after the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant in Japan in March 2011.

In addition, the two sides emphasized the importance of international forums, including the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus, to maintain regional prosperity, stability and peace. The two leaders pledged to cooperate closely in reforming the United Nations, including the expansion of the United Nations Security Council.

Japanese Prime Minister Abe affirmed his desire to strengthen relations between Japan and India on the basis of strategic and global partnership. He said Tokyo will maintain official development assistance to promote India's economic and social development efforts. Accordingly, Japan will increase loans to India to 101.7 billion yen (about 1 billion USD), including 71 billion yen (about 700 million USD) to build the Mumbai metro system, as well as consider increasing human and financial assistance for the project to build India's "Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor".

In addition, Japan will invite about 1,200 Indian youth to visit Japan to enhance educational and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

For his part, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stressed the importance of enhancing political dialogue and political consultations as well as promoting defense relations between the two countries.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will pay an official visit to Japan for four days, starting from May 27. According to plan, after visiting Japan, on May 30, the Indian Prime Minister will visit Thailand./.

According to (TTXVN) - DT