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“India, Japan need to focus on defence, nuclear energy”
Channai: India and Japan need to focus on defence and nuclear energy to improve mutual cooperation, according to Yasukuni Enoki, Japanese Ambassador to India..
Political and economic mutualities were already on the right track and would only need some acceleration..
Additional thrust was needed for developing collaborative ventures in scientific cooperation, academic exchanges and tourism promotion..
However, it was in the fields of defence and nuclear energy cooperation that the maximum complementarity of interests could be generated, he said during a talk on ‘Furtherance of the India-Japan Strategic Partnership,’ organised by the Centre for Security Analysis here on Thursday..
Reservations.
No comprehensive framework for defence cooperation had developed as yet due to certain ‘psychological reservations’ the Japanese had about such an arrangement with India..
The strategic location of both countries in Asia meant that such a framework had to be evolved in due course of time..
The Indo-US nuclear deal would mean greater representation for India in the Non Proliferation Treaty regime and would facilitate cooperation between India and Japan in the area of atomic energy and high-tech trade, Mr. Enoki said. The reality of Asian economic interdependence meant India was a key strategic partner for Japan as the combined GDPof the countries was about 60 per cent of total Asian GDP. In course of time, while Japan’s share would decrease, India’s was bound to increase, he added..
Promoting friendship.
Under such circumstances, promoting friendship among the countries was very important to Japan and the forthcoming visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was geared towards this purpose, he added..
After 2010, China’s economic growth was projected to decline sharply while India was poised to sustain a minimum of five per cent growth rate, mostly because the former was an ageing society while the latter had a youthful demographic profile, Mr. Enoki said in response to a question..
V.R. Raghavan and K. Srinivasan, president and establishment director respectively of CSA, were present.
The Hindu, 4 August 2007