Modi seeks deeper nuclear ties with Japan www.asia.nikkei.com
NEW DELHI -- As a bilateral summit with Japan approaches, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hopeful that the two nations will deepen economic ties in nuclear energy and other key areas.
"Our relations with Japan are very easy to take forward," Modi told reporters Wednesday, a day before he visits Japan. The two sides are expected to ink the final deal on a civil nuclear agreement on Friday.
India signed similar accords with the U.S. and France back in 2008. The South Asian country seeks to lift its atomic power output capacity by a magnitude of 10 by 2032. If Tokyo and New Delhi formalize their nuclear agreement, India can accelerate its facility construction with equipment supplied by Toshiba, which owns Westinghouse Electric of the U.S., and other Japanese companies.
Modi believes the agreement with Japan will go a long way toward cutting greenhouse gas emissions. "India has taken a huge initiative as far as renewable energy is concerned to fight global warming and climate change," he said.
Japan and India are also cooperating on building a high-speed rail line connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad, with the technology based on the Japanese shinkansen bullet train. Construction has initially been slated to take place between 2017 and 2023, but critics claim the groundbreaking will likely be delayed. The project is proceeding mostly according to the agreed-upon schedule, Modi said.
Modi declined to say whether the six other high-speed corridors in the works will adopt shinkansen technology, but he said that the Mumbai-Ahmedabad line may spur the proliferation of bullet trains across India. He added that the relationship with Japan could also help India "export [high-speed rail] technology and products to other parts of the world."
The Japanese side maintains that offshore manufacturing of trains and other equipment in India would be prohibitive if the shinkansen design is not utilized on the other six lines. That Modi mentioned the word "export" suggests the possibility that India may acquiesce to Japan's wishes.
On the military front, the two sides "have established bilateral mechanisms to discuss defense equipment and technology cooperation," Modi said. He did not touch on whether India will purchase the US-2 amphibious aircraft developed by Japan's ShinMaywa Industries. But he did mention how Japan "has high technology in several areas."
"I am hopeful that our cooperation in [the] defense field will continue to mature," he said.
Modi remains emphatic that India and Japan can serve both sides' needs on multiple fronts: "You have the technology, we have opportunities for using that technology," the prime minister said. "You have the finance, we have the opportunities for using that to develop our infrastructure. India has a very huge market."
Published Date:2016-11-10