Japanese PM to visit India next week

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) India and Japan are expected to discuss civil nuclear cooperation and review economic ties between the two countries during Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's two-day visit here next week. Noda will arrive here on December 27 to participate in the Sixth Annual Summit between the two countries during which he will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. During their talks on December 28, Singh and Noda will discuss steps to enhance the India–Japan Strategic and Global Partnership, an official release from the Ministry of External Affairs said. The two Prime Ministers are expected to discuss the civil nuclear deal, negotiations over which are on for a long time, and review economic ties between the two countries. The leaders may also discuss the situation in the region during the talks. The discussions would also focus on the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Japan. Noda, who will be accompanied by his wife Hitomi Noda, will be here on an invitation from Singh for the summit between the Prime Ministers of India and Japan, an annual event since 2006. This is the first visit to India by the top Japanese leadership after the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March this year. The tsunami also resulted in the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the largest atomic disaster since the Chernobyl incident of 1986. India and Japan started negotiations on a civil nuclear deal in June, 2010 and decided to speed them up in October 2010 when Singh visited Tokyo for talks with his then counterpart Naoto Kan. Even after the nuclear disaster in March, Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba assured India's External Affairs Minister S M Krishna in October this year of taking forward the civil nuclear cooperation. PTI