Japan, India ink bullet train, nuclear deals
DELHI TO EXTEND VISAS ON ARRIVAL TO JAPANESE CITIZENS FROM NEXT YEAR, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER SAYS
Japan and India agreed several high-profile deals yesterday including on high-speed rail, defence technology and civil nuclear cooperation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in New Delhi.
Following talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, Modi said the pair had agreed plans for Japan to build India’s first bullet train to slash journey times between the cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
“This enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India’s journey into the future,” Modi said of the deal, adding that Tokyo would also extend a $12 billion (Dh44 billion) package of financing and assistance for the train. “It will become an engine of economic transformation in India.”
The two leaders also agreed a long-mooted memorandum of understanding on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which will be signed once technical details are finalised, a spokesman for India’s foreign ministry said on Twitter.
Japan once shunned nuclear cooperation with India, which has not ratified the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but analysts say Tokyo has since softened its stance.
The two countries also agreed to explore future projects on defence technology transfer, including on Japanese-made US-2 amphibian aircraft. Modi lauded the recent decision by Japanese-owned carmaker Maruti Suzuki to export Indianmade Baleno cars to Japan.
Tokyo is encouraging Japanese businesses to tap fastgrowing emerging markets such as India, as the domestic market shrinks due to a rapidly ageing population and low birth rate.
The two leaders were yesterday expected to leave later for India’s holiest city of Varanasi and the premier’s parliamentary constituency.
India’s economic growth accelerated to 7.4 per cent in the second quarter of the financial year, figures released in November showed, outperforming China.