New Delhi:
India and Japan held a key strategic meeting today. Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and External Affairs Minister SM Krishna held round four of their strategic dialogue in Delhi, where a civil nuclear deal was top of the agenda.
Japan, the only country hit by an atomic bomb made a radical departure from its position this June when they agreed to do business with India on nuclear energy.
Japan's Foreign Minister admitted today that it was the toughest decision he had ever made while both countries said they won't get bogged down by timelines to sealing the deal.
Japan expressed keenness to conclude the civil nuclear agreement with India at the earliest but made it clear that such a cooperation would be suspended if New Delhi were to conduct an atomic test.
The two sides also decided to push their trade ties by concluding an Economic Partnership Agreement before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Tokyo in October with the Japanese side saying there is scope for 10-fold increase in commerce which was to the tune of USD 12 billion in 2008-09.
At the fourth round of Strategic Dialogue, the two countries also agreed to push efforts for UN reforms under the format of G-4 grouping and in this regard decided to reach out to 53-nation African continent whose support is vital.
Okada, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier in the day, said he had flagged the need for having civil nuclear cooperation, pushing economic ties and stepping up efforts for UN reforms.
After the Strategic Dialogue meeting, Krishna told a joint press conference with Okada that, "We agreed that the negotiations will continue quickly and that we will jointly work towards a good agreement which will result in a win-win situation for both India and Japan."
He said the two countries did "not intend to set a time-line for the conclusion of such an agreement."
Okada also said the two sides intended to conclude the agreement as soon as possible but no timelines had been fixed.
The negotiations for the nuclear agreement were initiated in June when one round of talks was held in Tokyo.
Okada said the decision to launch negotiations for civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India, which had not signed NPT, was "possibly the toughest decision that I have taken as Foreign Minister" in his 10-month tenure.
At the meeting, he said he had expressed "appreciation for efforts" made by India in the field of nuclear non-proliferation.
However, he noted that Japan was the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack and the "philosophy of non-proliferation" would have to reflect in the Agreement.
Okada said that while engaging India, Japan would not be able to run contrary to its policy on non-proliferation.
"I don't think we can suggest that India should refrain from conducting a nuclear test but if such a thing were to happen, Japan will have no option but to suspend cooperation," he said, adding this would have to be "built-in" in the agreement through proper "wording" and "terminology".
(
With PTI inputs)