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Manmohan, Abe revitalise India, Japan relationship
The two leaders issue joint statement which is their best shot yet at translating their commitment to Indo-Japan ties into reality, reports Madhur Singh.
The joint statement issued by prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Shinzo Abe on Friday is their best shot yet at translating their personal commitment to Indo-Japan relations into reality.
The statement, entitled 'Towards Japan-India Strategic and Global Partnership', covers almost the entire range of bilateral issues, including economics, defence, energy security and people-to-people contact. Even India's civilian nuclear programme gets a tacit Japanese nod, although it is padded up with caveats.
The biggest leap has been made in the economic sphere, where besides the announcement of the start of negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the two countries have signed up for a Special Economic Partnership Initiative (SEPI) that focuses exclusively and extensively on infrastructure building and manufacturing capacity development in India. The SEPI is ambitious in scope, and covers development of the power, transport and manufacturing sectors.
In addition to multi-modal freight corridor from Mumbai to Delhi and Delhi to Howrah, and a Mumbai-Delhi industrial corridor, special multi-product SEZs to source Japanese investment find mention. A task force on the Indian power sector is also to be set up.
In a significant move to align themselves with India's aim of equitable growth, Japan has signed up for an initiative to promote rural business and industrialisation that will be launched under a 'One Village One Product' programme on a pilot project basis. Meanwhile, Japan has also affirmed that India will continue to remain the recipient of the largest amount of Japanese ODA.
As for the nuclear issue, the statement says, "The two leaders share the view that nuclear energy can play an important role as a safe, sustainable and non-polluting source of energy." Just before this comes statement of the leaders' commitment to non-proliferation.
Recognising the respective strengths of Japan and India in high technology and knowledge, economy and the potential benefits of fostering cooperation and also noting the importance of promoting the objectives of non-proliferatin, the two leaders decide to launch a consultation mechanism to facilitate bilateral high technology trade and address matters relating to respective export control systems of the two countries.
According to a senior member of the PM's delegation, Japan has come as close to giving a nod to India's nuclear programme as it could be expected to at this stage, given that the issue highly sensitive in Japan.
For energy security, a 'Japan-India Energy Dialogue' will be established, while science and technology initiatives, especially in the fields of nano-technology, life science and ICT, deep-sea drilling are on the anvil. Significantly, an open access database to share scientific information between academic, public and industrial institutions is also planned.
Prime Minister Singh, while releasing the joint statement, said he was "deeply satisfied" with the outcome of the visit. Business leaders and analysts in both countries have welcomed the statement. According to former Indian ambassador to Tokyo, Arjun Asrani, the statement is a "substantive document" which combines an ambitious commitment with an action plan.
Prof HS Prabhakar from the Centre for East Asian Studies, JNU, says, "The measures to enhance people-to-people cooperation are bang on target. Moreover, the commitment to energy security is important, especially as global oil resources begin to diminish by 2020."
The infrastructure projects will have a substantial multiplier effect, says Saroj K Poddar, president, FICCI. "Once the freight corridor is in place, the number of Japanese units along it will multiply exponentially," he says.
The joint statement has earned kudos from Japanese business too. Nobuo Ohasi, chairperson of the Japan-India Business Committee, has lauded the launch of the CEPA, saying, "I look forward to tariff reduction, greater investment and expansion of trade in goods and services." The chairperson of the Japanese Chambers of Commerce, Nobuo Yamaguchi, says the CEPA and the SEPI will further growth in both countries.
