 "Shinzo Abe, India, Japan, Sushma Swaraj")
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe landed in New Delhi on Friday for a three-day official visit. The highlight of the meet is likely to be an agreement between India and Japan for the first bullet train service in India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the visit would deepen bilateral ties, and described Abe as a "phenomenal leader". The two leaders will have their summit level talks on Saturday and the two will then visit Varanasi, Modi's Lok Sabha constituency, where they will attend ganga aarti at the Dasaswamedh Ghat.
"Just wait for one day. Japan Prime Minister (Shinzo Abe) is coming, he will talk to our Prime Minister for a comprehensive partnership agreement which will address many issues," Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Friday at Agenda Aaj Tak, when asked about the announcement of the bullet train project. He indicated Japan could help out with India's first bullet train project as also with the building of railways' research and design capabilities to address future challenges.
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"There are many issues ignored for long and it (agreement) will address those, including safety, research and some special project (bullet train) will also be there," Prabhu said. The project cost of the 503-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor is estimated to be over Rs 98,000 crore and will be built with the help of a soft loan from Japan.
The Modi-Abe talks are also likely to deepen defence ties. There is a possibility of the Japanese side offering its help for the smart cities project.
This will be the ninth annual summit between the two sides. At the last meeting in Tokyo in September 2014, the two prime ministers had agreed to elevate the relationship to "special strategic and global partnership". Both sides had then decided to take forward negotiations on a civil nuclear cooperation agreement and expedite discussions on modalities for sale of Japanese US-2 amphibian aircraft.
