Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Japan on November 11-12, during which he will hold the annual summit with counterpart Shinzo Abe. Announcing the visit, the External Affairs Ministry said the meeting will be an occasion for the two leaders to have "in-depth exchanges on bilateral, regional, and global issues of mutual interest to further deepen the broad-based and action-oriented partnership between India and Japan."
Other than boosting cooperation in civil nuclear sector, both the sides will also explore ways to boost ties in trade, including in high technology area, security, and infrastructure. During the previous summit, held in December last year, both sides had reached a basic agreement on the pact and decided that the two sides will continue to discuss the international civil nuclear cooperation framework with respect to India. Official said all efforts were being made to sign a pact during the PM's visit that would pave the way for Japan to export nuclear power plant technology to the fast-growing Asian economy. If approved, it would be the host country's first nuclear cooperation pact with acountrh that has not joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The only country to have bore the brunt of nuclear bombings, Japan has time and again sought assurance from India that it will not be used for military purposes or nuclear tests. During Modi's first visit to the country, in 2014, the bilateral relationship was upgraded to a "Special Strategic and Global Partnership".
