By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : India’s engagements with Asia and Europe are expected to get further boost when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh travels on a bilateral visit to Japan today and to China to attend the ASEM Summit for the first time.
Singh will head to Tokyo on Tuesday (today)where he will hold talks with the country’s new Prime Minister Taro Aso on political, security and economic ties, including a free trade agreement, aiming to expand bilateral strategic relations.
“India-Japan relations are very important and we attach high priority to it,” Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters on the eve of Singh’s visit to Tokyo, his second since last year.
“Last year, we had laid out a roadmap for the strategic and global partnership…. And we look forward to carrying on through discussions,” Menon said.
Describing Aso as “an old friend of India,” he said that India-Japan relations have improved considerably with frequent high-level visits and intense discussions, including between the militaries of the two nations.
Aso, who was Japan’s foreign minister till last month before being elected as prime minister, is keen to forge strategic ties with India.
Singh will call on Japanese Emperor Akihito during his three-day visit. Several high-ranking Japanese ministers as well as Opposition leaders are expected to call on Singh.
Menon noted that India and Japan are negotiating an economic partnership agreement and it is hoped that the two sides would make progress on the pact.
He noted that India has emerged as the largest recipient of Japanese ODA loans, getting 30 per cent of the aid provided by the country.