TOKYO, May 27 – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed hope that India and Japan will reach an early agreement on civil nuclear energy cooperation on the eve of his visit to Japan, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
Singh, who is undertaking a three-day visit to Japan from Monday, will hold talks with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Wednesday with special focus on boosting cooperation in defence, economic and energy.
“It will be my effort to use this visit to strengthen our strategic and global partnership which also includes trying to reach an agreement on civil nuclear energy cooperation,” Singh told reporters ahead of his visit. Negotiations for a civil nuclear cooperation pact have not made much headway since Japan was struck by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.
While Japan has backed the Indo-US nuclear deal and exemptions given to India from international technology sanctions, successive governments in Tokyo have found the going tough in garnering political support in the face of stiff opposition from the non-proliferation lobby here.
The two Prime Ministers will take stock of the India-Japan Strategic and Global Partnership and discuss how to strengthen it. “In India and Japan there is an all-round agreement that our two countries must have a robust strategic and global partnership,” Singh said.
Singh also called on Japan to contribute towards India’s economic growth. “I invite the business community of Japan to take advantage of enormous opportunities at our opening up a liberalised Indian economy — there is huge scope for Japanese companies to invest in our manufacturing and clean and renewable energy,” he said.
“We have more Japanese companies operating in India than ever before but in terms of their contribution to the Indian growth process, much needs to be done.” India-Japan bilateral trade in 2011-12 reached US$18.43 billion, an increase of 34.33 per cent over 2010-2011.
India’s exports to Japan grew by 24.36 per cent against 40.20 per cent growth in imports from Japan in 2011-12.
“We have plans to invest US$1 trillion in infrastructure in the 12th five-year plan. I see an enormous role for Japanese industries to contribute not only to India’s infrastructure development but also accelerate the tempo of the manufacturing sector,” Singh said.
-BERNAMA
