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| Image: Flickr User - Anoop Divakaran K |
By Harsh V. Pant
Tokyo and New Delhi get serious about deepening their partnership.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in India last week to take part in the 9th annual India-Japan summit talks with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.
Both leaders evaluated the state of their “special strategic and global partnership” as well as reviewed the implementation of various decisions taken over the last year on the economic and trade front. During Modi’s visit last year, Japan had announced the doubling of its private and public investment in India, to about $34 billion, over a period of five years. The two leaders wanted to ensure that the momentum in economic ties is maintained — and they did not disappoint.
The biggest announcement during Abe’s visit was the Indian decision to adopt Japanese bullet train technology for its first high-speed railway. This 505 km corridor linking Mumbai with Ahmedabad will be financed by a Japanese loan at just 0.5 percent interest. This is significant for both Japan and India. Earlier this year, Japan lost out to China in bidding to build a high-speed railway in Indonesia. And India has been concerned about China’s growing role in infrastructure development in South Asia over the last decade. This decision brings Japan to the center stage of infrastructure development in India. Abe underscored this by expressing his commitment to support India’s efforts by sharing advanced skills and technologies and through the active mobilization of Japanese public and private sector involvement, including Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA), of which India is one of the largest recipients.
In line with the Modi government’s “Make in India” initiative, a broader defense agreement underpinning joint development of weapon systems was unveiled. The framework will enhance Indo-Japanese defense and security cooperation by making available defense equipment and technology necessary to implement joint research and joint production. Japan will also now permanently join India and the United States for the annual Malabar exercises.
Read the full story at The Diplomat