Japan intends to expand its strategic cooperation with India, to cover a whole host of industries from infrastructure to nanotechnology and life sciences, through an expansion of its investments in this country.

The Japanese government is ready and willing to encourage Japanese investment in all sectors of the Indian economy, including bio-technology, nanotechnology, life sciences, supercomputing, environmental and water conservation etc, in addition to the infrastructure and automobile sectors, minister of state for science and technology, earth sciences and planning, Dr Ashwani Kumar, said today.

The Indian minister, who is on visit to Japan, said this after talks with Japan's senior vice minister of the ministry of economy, trade and industry, Seishu Makiano, in Tokyo, on Thursday.

The ministers also discussed the progress of the $90-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project.

Both ministers agreed that the time has come for building on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries, which has come into force in August this year.

During a meeting with Japanese foreign minister Koichiro Gemba in Tokyo on Wednesday, Ashwani Kumar had affirmed India's commitment to a fair and non-discriminatory non-proliferation regime and expressed appreciation for Japan's support to India in the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) for its civil nuclear energy programme.

He informed the Japanese side that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has ordered a comprehensive reinforcement of safety measures in India's nuclear power plants.

Kumar proposed the establishment of an Indo-Japan Science Centre in India.

Gemba also told Kumar that Japan supported the call for reform of the UN and multilateral institutions so as to reflect the new realities.

Meanwhile, the new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has expresses eagerness to visit India by year-end, he told visiting Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar as she paid a courtesy call at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on Tuesday.

During a 30-minute meeting in Tokyo, Noda also told Kumar that the strengthening of relations between Japan and India has been welcomed by lawmakers in both countries.

Noda and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed during a meeting in late September in New York to arrange for the Japanese prime minister to visit India at an early date.

Kumar told Noda that New Delhi hopes to boost cooperation with Tokyo in such fields as trade and reform of the UN Security Council, the ministry added.

Noda is expected to travel to India as early as in November, government sources said.

In a separate meeting with Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the World Tourism Organisation, Noda also pledged to bolster the nation's tourism industry, which was hurt by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the ministry said.