Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's opening statement at the Joint Press Conference with Prime Minister Noda of Japan

I am delighted to welcome Prime Minister Noda on his first visit to India for the Annual India-Japan Summit. This summit has become one of the most productive and substantive events in our diplomatic calendar.

Prime Minister Noda and I have completed very fruitful and wide-ranging discussions aimed at further expanding and strengthening the India-Japan Strategic and Global Partnership.

Our partnership has gone beyond just its traditional but very important economic dimensions. It now includes cooperation in the political and security and high technology spheres. Since our last summit, Japan has removed seven Indian entities from the End User List.

Our cooperation on regional and global issues and non-traditional threats to security, such as piracy and maritime security has significantly strengthened.

We have a complete meeting of minds on most issues of concern to us.

We expressed satisfaction at the progress in our economic partnership. Our Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement has come into force since August 2011. After a dip in the previous year, trade turnover reached almost 15 billion US dollars in 2010 and the trend in 2011 is equally encouraging.

Negotiations have begun on a Social Security Agreement, and the first Ministerial Level Economic Dialogue is scheduled for 2012.

Over 700 Japanese affiliated companies have operations in India. Yet Japanese FDI inflows to India account for just over one percent of Japan’s total outward foreign direct investment flows. We would like to see much more Japanese investment and technology transfer in India, which we will facilitate.

I thanked Prime Minister Noda for maintaining the level of Official Development Assistance despite the demand for resources for the reconstruction of areas in northern Japan following the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.

We reviewed the progress of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. We both recognize the importance of completing the DFC-West project by December 2016. This will significantly enhance our railway infrastructure. The DMIC is now moving from the planning to the implementation stage. The Government of India has allocated long-term financial resources for this major project. We look forward to a similar commitment from the Japanese side.

Prime Minister Noda and I discussed the possibility of a new Chennai – Bengaluru Industrial Corridor project in south India, where many Japanese firms have invested. We have instructed our officials to look into the modalities of cooperation.

Japan has offered India high speed rail technology for our passenger networks. We welcome Japan’s interest in this new area.

As part of our energy cooperation, we reviewed the ongoing discussions on furthering civil nuclear cooperation between our countries. These are moving in the right direction.

We have agreed to encourage Indian and Japanese firms to cooperate in the area of rare earths and rare metals.

We have reviewed important regional and global issues, including the situation in Afghanistan and the challenges posed by the slowdown of the international economy. If India and Japan can build virtuous cycles of growth, this will contribute immensely to the early revival of the global economy.

We have agreed to strengthen coordination and cooperation within the East Asia Summit process and in creating conditions for a prosperous, open and inclusive architecture for regional cooperation.

We renewed our intention to work both bilaterally and within the G-4 for the reform of the United Nations Security Council.

I am extremely happy with this year’s Annual Summit and its outcomes which are reflected in the Joint Statement signed by Prime Minister Noda and me.

I thank you.