India sees Japan as strategic partner for infra upgrade: Jaishankar

Synergy between India and Japan on connectivity is positive for ASEAN nations: Foreign Secretary

Japan has steadily emerged as a special strategic partner of India and is committed to its infrastructure modernisation, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said Tuesday.

Delivering a lecture to mark the 25th anniversary of India-ASEAN relationship in Singapore, Jaishankar said ASEAN has a natural interest in the growing ties between India and Japan as the two nations share a global agenda.

He added that the planned Shinkansen high-speed rail project is the symbol of Japanese commitment to infrastructure modernization in India as well as of a substantially larger investment footprint.

"We also see the enhanced synergy between India and Japan on connectivity and maritime security as positive for ASEAN nations," said the Foreign Secretary.

Jaishankar's comments on the warm ties between New Delhi and Tokyo came five days after the Prime Ministers of the two countries - Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe met on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany.

It also came months after both governments inked a civil nuclear cooperation agreement.

Both Modi and Abe used their interaction to briefly reviewed progress in bilateral relations, including in important projects, since their last meeting in Japan in November 2016.

Prime Minister Abe is expected to visit New Delhi in September this year for the next annual bilateral summit.

Both countries are presently involved the "The Malabar" Naval Exercise in the Bay of Bengal.

The aim of the exercise is to achieve deeper military ties and greater interoperability among the navies of India, Japan and the United States in the strategically-important Indo- Pacific region.