Prime Minister Narendra has reached Japan on a five day visit. Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is receiving him as a special gesture.
Mr. Narendra Modi, besides holding talks with his Japanese counterpart, will meet the Emperor of Japan, political leaders, business community and students. On the second leg of his tour, agreements are likely to be signed in Tokyo after the delegation level talks.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and other senior officials will accompany the Prime Minister.
Both India and Japan hope that Mr. Modi's visit will take relations between the two countries to a new high. The visit is also likely to provide an opportunity for both the countries to work with each other for the cause of global peace.
India hopes that both the countries would be able to raise the strategic and global partnership to new levels.
The Japan Prime Minister said he is also very optimistic about the visit and feels that the visit will write a new chapter in strategic partnership.
This visit is also likely to create new vistas for exports of Indian goods and services to Japan. Official data said that the India-Japan bilateral trade reached 16.31 billion US dollars during last financial year. But, it was around 12 per cent lower in comparison to the previous year due to the reduction in Japanese exports.
Meanwhile, interacting with Japanese Media in New Delhi last evening, Prime Minister said that currently his government is not taking any initiative to review India's nuclear doctrine. He said, India's nuclear doctrine was adopted during the previous NDA government and has in general governed the country's nuclear weapons posture since then.
The Prime Minister also said that India has no hesitation to discuss any outstanding issue with Pakistan within the bilateral framework that has been established under the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration. Mr. Modi said that he is disappointed that Pakistan went ahead with talks with secessionist elements from Jammu and Kashmir in New Delhi just prior to the meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries. He said, New Delhi will continue to make efforts to build peaceful, friendly and cooperative ties with Islamabad, but any meaningful bilateral dialogue necessarily requires an environment that is free from terrorism and violence.
The Prime Minister said, he had a very good meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in May this year when he attended the swearing-in ceremony of new Government in India and both had decided that the Foreign Secretaries should meet and explore how to take relations forward.
