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Modi, Abe attend business meet in Delhi
December 12, 2015, 5:04 am

The Japanese Premier is on a three-day visit for annual summit talks with Modi during which the two sides are expected to seal a multi-billion deal for India's first bullet train track and deliberate on a civil nuclear pact [Image: MEA, India]

The Japanese Premier is on a three-day visit for annual summit talks with Modi during which the two sides are expected to seal a multi-billion deal for India’s first bullet train track and deliberate on a civil nuclear pact [Image: MEA, India]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe have attended a Japan-India business leaders forum in New Delhi on Saturday where both leaders stressed on boosting bilateral ties.

“A strong India is good for Japan and a strong Japan is good for India,” Abe told business leaders on Saturday.

Modi has vowed to push ahead with reforms to expand trade ties.

“Not just high speed train, India wants high speed growth,” Modi said at the business meet in the Indian capital.

The Japanese Premier is on a three-day visit for annual summit talks with Modi during which the two sides are expected to seal a multi-billion deal for India’s first bullet train track and deliberate on a civil nuclear pact.

Modi’s cabinet this week cleared a $14.7 billion Japanese proposal to build a bullet train line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad

In the 9th annual Indo-Japan summit talks on Saturday, Modi and Abe will review implementation of various decisions taken in course of last one year and focus on enhancing trade and investment between the two Asian economic powers.

Welcoming Abe, Modi described him as a “phenomenal leader” and said his trip will further deepen the bilateral relations.

“Welcome to India @AbeShinzo. Your visit will provide new strength and vigour to India-Japan ties,” Modi tweeted.

A number of agreements to expand cooperation in a range of areas are expected to be signed on Saturday after the summit talks which is likely to deliberate on a number of infrastructure projects including the ambitious smart cities initiative of Modi.

The two sides have already inked a Partner City Affiliation agreement and have agreed to convert the ancient Indian city of Varanasi into a “smart city”. Modi has promised to build 100 “smart cities” across India.

New Delhi and Tokyo are also working to make forward movement in the proposed nuclear deal.

With trade between India and Japan at $18.51 billion, Tokyo accounts for a 2.34% share in India’s global trade with petroleum products, oil meals, marine products, gems and jewellery and iron ore being the principal commodities of export to Japan while machinery, iron & steel, electronic goods, transport equipment and project goods are the major items that India imports.

After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extracted a Japanese promise to invest $35 billion in investment in Indian infrastructure projects for the next five years, Tokyo had warned about the investment climate in the country.The Modi-government must roll out economic reforms, build up infrastructure and cut red tape for the Japanese funds to reach the country, a Japanese Minister said in an interview to leading Indian daily The Hindu last year.

“Japanese companies will move forward with investment, but only if there is a visibility with regard to these reforms. Despite the quite large investment to date, infrastructure development is not catching up with rapid economic growth. This is a major bottleneck for growth,” said Yasutoshi Nishimura, State Minister of Japan’s Cabinet Office, responsible for economic and fiscal policy.

Nishimura also explained that the $35 billion commitment made to the Indian Prime Minister is a combination of government outlay for infrastructure projects and the “projected expectation” from private companies.

Official data shows in the past five years, India’s imports from China have shot up more than 60 per cent, while imports from Japan have risen only 12 per cent.

TBP and Agencies