New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS) India and Japan Tuesday will launch a defence action plan to firm up their strategic partnership that includes jointly combating maritime piracy and give a push to negotiations over a key economic agreement that can multiply their bilateral trade manifold.
The two sides Monday signed agreements to build eco-friendly cities along the Rs.3.6 lakh crore ($72 billion) Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, setting the tone for talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Yukio Hatoyama Tuesday. Hatoyama began his three-day visit to India Sunday and arrived in the Indian capital for talks Monday afternoon.

However, a civil nuclear deal looks unlikely with a Japanese official Monday urging India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), opposed by New Delhi which regards it as “unfair and discriminatory.”

The two leaders will discuss a host of bilateral, regional and global issues, including an ambitious plan to scale bilateral trade to $20 billion by 2010, the UN reforms, nuclear issues, and coordination over climate change negotiations in the aftermath of the Copenhagen accord.

The showpiece of the visit will be the launch of a defence action plan which will add more content to a joint declaration on a security cooperation agreement signed by the two sides during Manmohan Singh’s visit to Tokyo last year.

The action plan will lay out a framework for deepening security cooperation, Kazuo Kodama, press secretary with Japan’s ministry of foreign affairs, told reporters Monday.

The new security dialogue will be conducted in “2 plus 2 format” in which senior officials of defence and foreign ministers will participate. Jointly combating maritime piracy in the Indian Ocean will be a primary focus area of the defence action plan that will be unveiled Tuesday. The two leaders will also review the status of Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), over which 12 rounds of negotiations have already been held, and instruct their negotiators to conclude a mutually acceptable agreement, Kodama said.

Kodama, however, stressed that the burgeoning security partnership between India and Japan is not directed against China. The promotion of India-Japan partnership should not be at the expense of the third country, Kodama said.

The issue of civil nuclear cooperation in relation to climate change will be discussed, Kodama said, but indicated differences over the CTBT. Welcoming India’s commitment to maintaining unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing, Kodama added: “At the same time, Japan hopes that India will sign and ratify the CTBT.”

He also stressed on the need for India to accelerate negotiations on concluding Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). Besides security issues, the focus will be on scaling up economic ties between the two countries. For the first time, Japan’s investment in India ($5.22) billion surpassed that of its investment in China ($3.65 billion).

The accent on business was underscored by two pacts signed Monday. The first memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corp (DMICDC) and the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) for development of eco-friendly and smart cities.

The other MOU was between India Infrastructure Finance Co and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation for setting up a project development fund. Japan’s investment in the 1,483-km Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, spanning six states, is expected to be around $10 billion spread through five years.