Japan-India Foreign Ministers' Meeting

July 8, 2012
Japanese

(Photo)Japan-India Foreign Ministers' Meeting-2

On Sunday, July 8, Mr. Koichiro Gemba, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, held a meeting with H.E. Mr. S. M. Krishna, Minister of External Affairs of India, who was visiting Japan to attend the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan. An overview of the meeting is as follows.

Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan
Minister Gemba thanked Minister Krishna for his attendance and the statement delivered at the Tokyo Conference. Minister Krishna expressed his gratitude for Japan's hospitality and congratulated Minister Gemba for the success of the Conference.
Bilateral Relations
Minister Krishna mentioned such issues as the conduct of the first bilateral exercise between the Indian Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force this year; the holding of a working-level dialogue on maritime issues and bilateral talks on cyber; construction of a metro system in Delhi, Bangalore, and Kolkata using Japanese official development assistance (ODA) loans; steady progress toward the realization of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project; the entry into force of the Japan-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) last year and expansion of the bilateral trade volume; progress on a Japan-India joint project on rare earth; and Japanese support for the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H). Minister Gemba took note of these issues and welcomed the substantial agreement on negotiations with respect to an Agreement between Japan and India on Social Security. He also noted the importance of relaxing India's financial regulations for promoting Japanese investment. The two Ministers recognized the progress of their bilateral cooperation on many fronts, including political, security, and economic field, and decided to further accelerate their efforts towards the upcoming visit to Japan by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later this year.
Both Ministers shared the view that the two countries would continue their cooperation at the forthcoming ASEAN-related Foreign Minister's meetings.

(*The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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