What will be the agenda for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his visit to India?

The central agenda will be to jointly develop a roadmap for the implementation of the ‘Strategic Global Partnership’ which was agreed last December between the two leaders. This roadmap should cover a wide spectrum encompassing political and economic cooperation, people-to-people exchange, as well as regional and global cooperation.

The main features of Prime Minister Abe’s visit are as follows:

• This coming visit is the first visit since both the Prime Ministers agreed to hold bilateral summit talks every year alternately in their respective capitals.

• A business delegation comprising about 160 people will accompany Prime Minister Abe. And this represents most eloquently the growing interests of Japanese business in India.

• Vice-Chancellors from 12 major Japanese universities are coming to India to hold the first ever ‘Dialogue of Vice-Chancellors/Presidents of Universities between Japan and India’ to accelerate academic exchanges between the two countries.

Apart from the political aspect, what are the economic considerations that will take place?

The main subject in economic area is to follow up the ‘Japan-India Special Economic Partnership Initiative (SEPI)’, which is targeting both at the enhanced collaboration in the development of Indian manufacturing industries and at the accelerated cooperation for the infrastructural development. In particular, we attach importance to two flagship projects, namely, the ‘Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)’ project and the ‘Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC)’ project, among many others.

What are the main factors that have accelerated growth in bilateral relations of late?

I think there are four main factors which have contributed to the accelerated growth in our bilateral relations:

The first one is expansion of the Indian economy. From the Indian side, owing to the economic expansion, a huge need for infrastructure has emerged, and there are big expectations of FDI from Japan. From the Japanese side, at the same time, Japan has started to view India as a significant economic partner.

The second factor is the policy change in Indian diplomacy. India has started to think that it should participate directly in the management of world affairs, and because of this there are more and more areas in which the two countries should cooperate with each other; for example, UN reforms, climate change, and so on.

Thirdly, as regional cooperation is expanding in East Asia (the East Asia Summit held earlier this year serves as a good example for this), the potential for Japan-India bilateral cooperation is also correspondingly increasing.

Fourthly, the realisation among Japanese people of the tremendous feeling of goodwill that Indians hold towards Japan, has contributed immensely to the renewal of their friendly ties.

Following the establishment of the ‘Global Partnership’ in 2000 during Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori’s visit to India, and the decision taken during Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s India visit, in what way does Japan view India as a long-term Strategic Partner in Asia?

Japan views India as one of the three Major Powers of Asia together with Japan and China. And Japan is seeking to build the strategic partnership with India for the prosperity and stability of the region as well as the world. Japan defines the term “Strategic Partnership” in a restrictive manner with two important elements: in the first place, friendly relations with shared values such as democracy, human rights, freedom and market economy, and secondly, partners responsible for the joint management of the region and the world.

India’s record in non-proliferation is excellent; however, can India expect to have Japan’s support for the nuclear agreement with the US that will facilitate civilian nuclear cooperation?

While watching the ongoing negotiations on India-IAEA Safeguard Agreement and carefully assessing the implications of India-US Agreement, Japan’s position is still under careful scrutiny. Japan, however, well recognises India’s excellent non-proliferation record and fully understands the use of nuclear energy ...

I hope that constructive deliberations are made at the IAEA and NSG with respect to international civil nuclear cooperation framework with India.

In his book Towards a Beautiful Country: My Vision for Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe projects that Japan-India relations will overtake Japan-US and Japan-China relations. In this respect, what are the most important sectors of mutual interest and cooperation between Japan and India?

Prime Minister Abe terms Japan-India relations as those with the greatest potential to grow. In fact, the Japan-India bilateral relationship is developing very fast, especially in the political and economic fields. In political terms, for example, Ministerial-level exchanges between the two countries have become more frequent. In economic terms, the FDI from Japan is rapidly increasing, and over the period 2006 - 2010, we are expecting US Dollars 5.5 billion worth of investment flow into India.

On the other hand, people-to-people exchanges, characterised by tourism, exchange of students, number of Japanese language learners, etc., are definitely expanding but have still not been fully tapped. Also, defense cooperation between the two countries is an area which we should further develop.

Relationship through people-to-people contacts, such as student exchange programmes and cultural exchanges is an ideal way to strengthen regional ties. What are the major steps being taken for the promotion of art and culture between Japan and India?

As you pointed out, strengthening of people-to-people contacts is indispensable in order to consolidate bilateral or regional ties. In order to expand people-to-people contacts, Japan and India decided to celebrate the ‘India-Japan Friendship Year’ as well as the ‘India-Japan Tourism Exchange Year’ in 2007. Furthermore, last January, at the East Asia Summit, Prime Minister Abe announced the ‘Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youth Programme (JENESYS), which is a plan for inviting 6000 youth from Asia, including India, in the term of five years. Under this programme, we plan to invite around 550 high school students and Japanese language learners from India to Japan every year.