Modi-Abe seal the bullet-train deal

Japanese premier Shinzo Abe reached India for his 3-day bilateral visit.

He was received by Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha.

He is expected to call on Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.

Soon after his arrival, the Japanese Prime Minister attended the Japan-India Innovation seminar and addressing the audience said, "Indo-Japanese relations will contribute to peace and prosperity in Asia and the world".

The prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi conferred Shinzo Abe with an honorary doctorate in International Relations.

He was presented with the doctorate by JNU Vice Chancellor Sudhir Kumar Sopory for "Japan's role in India's economic development."

Declaring his faith in the relations of the two countries, Abe extended Japan's assistance towards the development of India and JNU.

PM Modi and Japanese premier Abe addressed the India-Japan Business Leaders Forum in New Delhi

Abe said that a strong India was good for Japan and vice versa. Further, he praised Modi's economic policies calling them 'safe and reliable'.

Modi highlighted that for the first time India will be exporting Maruti Suzuki cars to Japan.

He also thanked Japan for making 'Make-in-India' a success.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian PM Modi finally sealed the bullet-train deal.

Japan declared that it will contribute $12 billion (almost Rs.80,136 crores) of soft-funding towards the bullet train project.

Modi said in a speech, "this enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India's journey into the future. It will become an engine of economic transformation in India".

India and Japan inked 4 pacts including the one on the bullet train, others being in the areas of defense and nuclear energy.

The two leaders also addressed global and regional concerns of mutual interest including the UN security reforms.

Modi also declared that from 1 March 2016, Japanese visitors coming to India would get visa on arrival.

During PM Shinzo Abe's visit, India and Japan signed a MoU which will pave the way for Indo-Japanese nuclear energy co-operation.

Japanese companies are leaders in the global nuclear technology supply chain.

India and Japan have been working on a nuclear agreement since the 2008 Indo-US nuclear deal was signed.

Sources state that technical details still need to be worked out.

Japan has a strict policy barring technology exports to non-NPT signatory, nuclear weapons states.

Hitachi owns US firm GE and Toshiba owns Westinghouse, the two US companies providing technology to India under the Indo-US deal.

Due to issues with India's stance on the NPT, several hurdles are yet to be overcome with Westinghouse and GE.

A deal with Japan can help clear these hurdles.