PM not going to Japan for annual summit

Elections likely to be announced there by end of the week

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not be travelling to Japan later this month to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart, Yoshihiko Noda.  The visit, scheduled between November 15-18, has been cancelled because elections are likely to be announced in Japan by the end of the week, a Ministry of External Affairs official said, and the two countries mutually came to this decision. New dates for the visit will be announced later.

Japanese Prime Minister Noda, the country's sixth prime minister since 2006,  earlier today said that he would be willing to dissolve Parliament on November 16 and hold elections later this year, reports said. The summit-level meeting between Singh and Noda was likely to include deals for infrastructure projects worth $15 billion, other reports had indicated. Singh was also supposed to meet business leaders there as well as Emperor and Empress of Japan .

 

The Prime Minister is also slated to visit Cambodia between November 18-20, where he is to attend the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summits.