India, Japan to expand ties; near deal on N-trade

Prime minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan today agreed on an economic partnership that will abolish tariffs on 94 per cent of bilateral trade in 10 years.

The two leaders welcomed the successful conclusion of negotiations on a balanced and mutually beneficial India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and agreed on a joint vision for a strategic partnership.

They reiterated the fundamental identity of values, interests and priorities between Japan and India and reaffirmed the political consensus in both countries for upgrading bilateral relations for sustained peace and prosperity in a changing and dynamic Asia and the world.

Towards this, they proposed the establishment of a ministerial level economic dialogue between India and Japan to give strategic and long-term policy orientation to bilateral economic engagement, taking into account the regional and global context.
 
The two leaders also signed an agreement to boost trade and investment between them, marking the successful conclusion of negotiations on Japan-India trade partnership and pledged to speed up talks on civil nuclear trade.

India and Japan will extend cooperation to new and renewable energy, clean coal technology and enhancing energy efficiency in India's power sector.

In this context, they welcomed the establishment of a Nuclear Energy Working Group under the Energy Dialogue in April 2010 to exchange views and information on their respective nuclear energy policies from the energy, economic and industrial perspectives.