Altlantic International Partnership Headlines: Fukushima fallout: Japan to go slow on nuke talks with India

http://atlanticinternationalpartnershipnews.com/2011/06/altlantic-international-partnership-headlines-fukushima-fallout-japan-to-go-slow-on-nuke-talks-with-india/
Japan’s relation with India has its roots in history. India is the place from which Buddhism spread to Japan almost 1500 years ago, via China and Korea, and, therefore, occupies a very special place in the hearts of the people of Japan. The two countries are now strengthening their ties as strategic partners, not just in this part of the world, but also in various arenas globally, and emerging as true ‘Global Partners’. The 2000 visit of the then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to India in fact marked a new beginning in the bilateral relation and it was re-affirmed that the two countries were indispensable strategic partners to each other. It was then decided that Prime Ministers of both countries would take turn to visit the other every year. Since then we have been making very hard efforts to strengthen bilateral relations in the political, economic and cultural areas. If you look at maps, Japan and India are located nearly 6000 kilometers away from each other. We have been treating each other as very important partners from the geo-strategic viewpoint. It is only natural that the two countries come close at the strategic level. We have a giant neighbour in common. There are many levels of dialogues between Japan and India. At the top, we have a dialogue between Prime Ministers. We have a strategic dialogue at the level of Foreign Ministers. We have just added another– a Ministerial Dialogue on Economic Issues to be led by Foreign Ministers, with participation of ministers holding finance, commerce and environment portfolios. We are now discussing a date and a venue to hold the dialogue. We have a Foreign Secretary level dialogue too. So we are looking forward to the intensification of consultations at all levels. Indian Defence Minister is expected to go to Tokyo sometime this year to hold talks with his counterparts in Japan. So, on a whole, I think we have very excellent bilateral ties and the future of our strategic partnership looks very promising.
India has been the top recipient of Japan’s Overseas Development Assistance. Do you think that the March 11 earthquake and tsunami can have an impact on the Japanese ODA inflow to India?
No. It is true that India has been the top ODA recipient from Japan for eight years in a row. And, for the year 2011-12, we have just received a request list for the ODA from the Indian Government and we are in the midst of examining it. We have just exchanged the notes for formalizing the Japanese soft loan assistance worth 155, 549 million yen (approximately Rs 8632 crore) to seven projects in India. This includes the 19832 million yen for the second phase of Bangalore Metro. The loan package was initially scheduled to be extended in 2010-11. There has been some delay due to the earthquake, I must admit. But Japan has extended the loan without any deduction from its previous commitment to India. For us, a commitment is a commitment and we honour our promise to India. I don’t think there will be any reduction in future ODA inflow from Japan to India due to the quake. You can count on us. The basic philosophy of our ODA loan is simply to help our good friend. If our good friend is building his own house and if he needs our help, we are more than happy to help.
As Japan itself is in the midst of a rebuilding process after the March 11 quake and tsunami, do you expect India to extend help to its good friend too?
India has been doing a lot to help us, right from the beginning, at the first stage of our recovery efforts. And in future too, if necessary, we may ask our friends abroad to come and help us. But, right at the moment, I think we are handling the situation quite alright.

Can you give us an overview of Japan-India economic ties and its prospects after the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement? Is the trade target of US $ 25 billion by 2014 achievable, after the recent disasters that hit the economy of Japan?
The answer is yes. I can only see a promising picture of future economic relation between Japan and India. Bilateral trade volume doubled in the last five years. The number of Japanese companies doing business in India also doubled in the last three years from 362 to 725 and it is still increasing. Every month the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industries in India welcomes new members. The two countries signed CEPA on February 16 last and it will come into effect on August 1. Under the agreement, we have promised to eliminate 94% of tariffs between Japan and India within 10 years. Import duty will be zero on 90% of products coming from Japan to India and on 97% of exports from India to Japan. This will give Indian companies more business opportunities in Japan, particularly in pharmaceuticals and services sector. So the future looks very promising.
Can you update us about the status of the Dedicated Freight Corridor and Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor? Do you feel there should be some mechanism to ensure more opportunities to Japanese companies in these projects?
Japan is committed to the western DFC, between Delhi and Mumbai. For the first phase of the western DFC, we are already committed to the loan agreement and notes have been exchanged in March last year. The main loan amount is about 90 billion yen. Engineering service loan for the second phase has also been signed. So, as far as the DFC is concerned, agreements have been signed and the contractors are well informed and they are eager to actively take part in the implementation of the project. On the DMIC, there are some early bird projects. And the Japanese companies are very eager to take part in implementing the early bird projects. Also, there are Smart Community Projects. The feasibility studies have been conducted. Japanese companies have presented their proposals to the Government in Tokyo. And now the Japanese Government is studying the proposals.
Some companies may have mentioned about the problems about financing in rupee terms. Long-term rupee financing is not possible under the present scheme of the Indian Government. So how we go about this is something we need to work hard with cooperation with Indian Government.
As you are on a visit to Bangalore, may I ask you how you view the future of Japan-India cooperation in the Information Technology sector? Karnataka Government had a plan to set up a Japanese Village or an industrial park exclusively for Japanese companies near Bangalore. Can you please give us an update on its present status and some details about it?
I was very much looking forward to my visit to Bangalore. This is my first visit to Bangalore. The city has been very famous as an Information Technology hub. Bangalore Metro is one of the projects that received Japanese ODA. As many as 74 Japanese companies, including Toyota, Nissan and Komatsu, have presence in Bangalore. And I have been told that the number would rapidly increase in the coming days. I would be seeing the representatives of the Japanese business community in Bangalore. Bangalore is a very attractive destination for investments from Japan. We in Japan are keenly interested in strengthening our cooperation with India in the IT sector. The NASSCOM chief Som Mittal will visit Japan this week and he will meet government officials there. I hope he will have a productive visit that will help boost Japan-India IT collaboration further.
I know that Karnataka Government has a plan to set up an industrial park for Japanese companies near Bangalore. Many Japanese companies are interested to go there. The problem is that the land acquired by the State Government needs to be developed. I think private sector developers have to do the job. We are yet to hear the name of the developer. We are hoping that we will be able to find reliable, good developer.
Japan and India have decided to hold a Ministerial-level Economic Dialogue to be led by Foreign Ministers of both the countries. When will it happen? Can you please give us a broad outline of the issues that might be discussed in the Economic Dialogue?
It will happen this year. We want all top level dialogues between Japan and India to take place before our Prime Minister comes here to hold talks with your Prime Minister here later this year. I expect that long-term and strategic policy dialogue will have to take place at least at the cabinet level, including how to improve infrastructure, what types of finances will be available. Improving the business environment will be an issue of common interest for both sides at the minister level. We will pinpoint the specific issues to be discussed at a later stage.
Did the incidents at Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami slow down the Japan-India talks on civil nuclear cooperation? Is the fact that New Delhi has not signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty a cause for Japan to be cagey about striking a deal for civil nuclear cooperation with India? In the wake of the crisis in Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Plant, can Japan and India explore bilateral cooperation in nuclear safety?