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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Defence, rail deals on cards during Abe visit
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Defence, rail deals on cards during Abe visit

Meeting with Modi during 12-13 December visit likely to see deals on nuclear cooperation and space exploration

The meeting between Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be their third in a month. Photo: PTIPremium
The meeting between Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be their third in a month. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Japan’s Shinzo Abe is expected to visit India on 12-13 December for the annual summit of the prime ministers of the two countries to consolidate ties that were upgraded to a ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership’ last year, two people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.

The meeting between Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be their third in a month, having met on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Antalaya, Turkey, on 14-15 November and then on the margins of the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 21 November.

At the East Asia Summit, Abe said the India-Japan relationship has “the greatest potential of any bilateral relationship in the world", Anil Wadhwa, secretary east, in the ministry of external affairs, told reporters. “Abe said that he was personally determined to expand the Special Strategic and Global Partnership operating between India and Japan," Wadhwa said.

Modi, on his part, invited Japan “to become a strong partner in our Make in India programme, particularly on the defence side", Wadhwa said. The two prime ministers also reviewed defence ties, particularly Japan’s participation in the Malabar naval exercises (that India holds bilaterally with the US) in October, Wadhwa added.

During Modi’s visit to Japan last year in August-September for the annual India-Japan summit, Japan pledged 3.5 trillion yen (approximately $33.58 billion) in public and private investment in India besides overseas development assistance over the next five years to fund next-generation infrastructure, connectivity, transport systems, smart cities, manufacturing, clean energy and skill development.

The two countries also agreed on a blueprint for the transfer of technology in the manufacture of defence equipment.

Discussions during Abe’s visit to New Delhi will focus on taking many of these proposals forward, said Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor of East Asian Studies at the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University.

One of the takeaways from the summit would be an agreement between India and Japan on regular Japanese participation in the Malabar series of exercises, Kondapalli said.

Japan took part in the Malabar exercises in October, the first time since it was invited to participate in 2007 when Japan and Australia had backed out of the drill following protests by China, which feared a deliberate “containment" strategy.

They could also announce “a broad understanding" in civil nuclear cooperation, Kondapalli said, citing recent talks between the two countries that had gone well. India is keen to cement civil nuclear cooperation with Japan as many of its companies make parts that are critical for building a civilian nuclear power plant and the country is keen to increase electricity production to fuel its economic growth.

There is also likely to be an agreement on space cooperation, with Japan’s space programme planning to launch an unmanned mission to the moon by 2018, Kondapalli said. There could also be an exchange of views on a ballistic missile shield for which Japan has invested almost 10 trillion yen ($81 billion). “In the case of Japan, the worry is about missile attacks from North Korea. In the case of India, there are worries about similar attacks from Pakistan or even China," Kondapalli said.

On the economic front, Japan could formally offer India a loan of $15 billion at low interest rates to finance India’s first bullet train, Kondapalli said. Both China and Japan are conducting feasibility studies for introducing high-speed rail networks in India. Japan was picked to assess the feasibility of building the 505km corridor linking Mumbai with Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Modi’s home state of Gujarat. The feasibility study concluded that it is a technically and financially viable proposal.

In the meantime, China has won the contract to assess the feasibility of a high-speed train between Delhi and Mumbai, a 1,200km route.

Both projects are part of a ‘Diamond Qaudrilateral’ of high-speed trains over 10,000km of track that India wants to set up connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

According to a Reuters report last month, Japan’s offer includes meeting 80% of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad project cost on condition that India buys 30% of the equipment, including the coaches and locomotives, from Japanese companies.

“There is some disappointment on the part of Japan that many of the investments it had planned have had to be kept on the backburner because many measures like the goods and services tax, the law to make land acquisitions easier and labour reforms have yet to be completed," said Kondapalli.

“But the Japanese certainly have faith in the Indian economy. Any investor would be interested, with India projected to grow at 7.4%," he added.

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Published: 25 Nov 2015, 11:58 PM IST
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