Japanese envoy meets Arun Jaitely ahead of Shinzo Abe's visit

Japanese ambassador to India, Takeshi Yagi, met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday a month ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to New Delhi.

The two sat and discussed matters of mutual importance.

Abe is scheduled to visit India on December 11 for the ninth annual India-Japan summit. As per reports, discussions are on between defence and nuclear establishments of both the sides. An agreement on cooperation on the use of nuclear energy could also be signed during the upcoming summit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Abe are also expected to review implementation of decisions taken after the Indian Prime Minister visited Japan last year, particularly in the trade and investment sector.

Japanese retail investment into India through investment trusts in October was $3.76 billion, its highest level in over seven years and more than doubling the amount invested at the time Modi came to power.

India has been pushing for an agreement with Japan on the lines of a 2008 deal with the United States under which India was allowed to import U.S. nuclear fuel and technology without giving up its military nuclear programme.

But Japan wants explicit guarantees from India, which has not signed the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, to strictly limit nuclear tests and to allow more intrusive inspections of its nuclear facilities to ensure that spent fuel is not diverted to make bombs.