PM's visit to Japan extremely successful: Mathai

Terming the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Japan as "extremely successful", Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said Wednesday it had helped in "lifting relations to an entirely new dimension".

Mathai said that the "clear-cut support" for India from Japan on "working towards India's full membership of the export control regimes" like the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was a big thing.

"The possibilities of cooperation between Japan and India have reached a decisive phase," Mathai told Indian reporters accompanying the prime minister.

He said that the dialogue between both countries on the civil nuclear cooperation would be accelerated. "The prime minister has directed us to accelerate negotiations on this," he said.

He highlighted various points, including the institutionalization of the naval exercises between both countries, setting up of a joint working group for India acquiring the ShinMaywa US-2 amphibious aircraft and Japanese investment in various projects in India, as the high point of the three-day visit.

He said that investment-led trade growth between India and Japan will be an important factor in relations between both countries.

"When Japanese investment in India grows, we will see trade also growing," Mathai said.

Trade between the two countries is just $18 bn annually.