India, Japan to boost trade ties

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held bilateral talks with his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Tuesday.

He said Indo-Japanese relations have taken a new sense of purpose and direction.  The prime minister said that it has opened the gates to fully exploit the potential strength of both countries. Japan, he said is very important to India's 'Look East' policy.

The joint study group that was set up to examine the economic potential between the two countries will submit the report in a few months.

As far as the freight corridor issue is concerned, it was decided that Japan International Cooperation Agency would finance the feasibility study.

Freight corridor is a complex project and, given the experience of other railways, optimised linkages with the existing network, technical configuration, timely and innovative project execution and tight financial discipline are essential for it to succeed.

India and Japan would resume collaboration in other fields like defence, coast guard, navy, maritime security and anti-piracy not only at bilateral level but also on a global scale.

Both side also agreed to cooperate in the management of avian flu, tsunami and terrorism. The Japanese prime minister said that he was looking forward to the East Asian process and hoped to accelerate the pace of multi-dimensional cooperation between the two countries.

Koizumi invited Singh to visit Japan next year and the Indian prime minister has accepted the invitation in principle.