Japan, India sign civil nuclear accord
Shedding its reservations, Japan on Friday made an exception to sign a landmark civil nuclear deal with India, opening the door for export of its atomic technology and reactors, after adding features like safety and security keeping in mind its sensitivities on the issue.
The nuclear deal, described as historic by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was part of the 10 agreements signed between the two countries in various areas after he held talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on the second day of his three-day visit.
They held wide-ranging talks which covered aspects like trade and investment, security, terrorism, cooperation in skill development, aerospace and people-to-people contacts.
Abe also said construction of a high-speed train corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad would start in 2018 and the train service would be operational from 2023. At a joint press conference with Modi, Abe said the designing of the project will begin by the end of this year. Abe hoped that introduction of the rapid train network would spur further economic growth in India as he recalled that such a thing had happened in Japan when high-speed rail system Shinkansen was introduced in 1964.
The nuclear agreement comes after tough negotiations for over six years between the two countries and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said the nuclear deal was similar to the agreements signed with the US and other countries with added features on safety and security in keeping with Japan's sensitivities.