PM Modi, Shinzo Abe sign Kyoto-Varanasi partnership agreement

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, August 30, 2014: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reached Japan amid "great expectations" that the five-day trip will open new vistas in bilateral ties and Strategic and Global Partnership to a higher level.

 

The Air India One plane carrying Modi landed at Osaka airport. The PM will next travel to Kyoto where he will be received by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.


On his first bilateral visit outside the subcontinent as Prime Minister, Modi has a substantive agenda during the five-day trip which he hopes will "write a new chapter" in the bilateral relations and cooperation in the fields of defence, civil nuclear and infrastructure besides commerce.

Underlining the importance of the visit, the "excited" Modi said on the eve of the trip that Japan has "paramount importance" in his vision for India’s development and progress.

First stop Kyoto

In the first leg of his visit, the PM will travel to Kyoto, the ’smart city’ of Japan, to see the experiment there considering that he intends to build 100 smart cities in India.

In a special gesture, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will fly to Kyoto to receive Modi there, reported PTI.

The two leaders will have substantive summit meeting in Tokyo on September 1 during which the two sides will look at ways to take the Strategic and Global Partnership forward.

India has "great expectations" from the visit, the External Affairs Ministry has said.

The agenda

Cooperation in the fields of defence, civil nuclear, infrastructure development and rare earth materials are expected to top the agenda of the discussions.

Some agreements, including in defence and civil nuclear sectors, are expected to be signed. Among the agreements to be signed is one on joint production of rare earth materials.

"I am keenly looking forward to my visit to Japan at the invitation of my good friend, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, for the annual summit between India and Japan," Modi said in his pre-departure statement.

Noting that this will be his first bilateral visit outside the immediate neighbourhood as Prime Minister, he said it underlines "the high priority" that Japan receives in India’s foreign and economic policies.

"It is also a reflection of Japan’s paramount importance in my vision for development and prosperity in India and in peace, stability and prosperity in Asia at large," Modi said.

"I am confident that my visit will write a new chapter in the annals of the relations between Asia’s two oldest democracies and take our Strategic and Global Partnership to the next higher level," he said.


Courtesy:Indiatoday