India, Japan make progress on CEPA, to conclude it soon
By chennaivision at 3 July, 2009, 6:48 pm
Tokyo, India and Japan today said they were making progress on a ”high quality and mutually beneficial” Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and stressed the need to conclude it soon.
The two countries have also agreed to expedite work on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and the Dedicated Freight Corridor projects.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, currently on a two-day visit to Japan to attend the Third India-Japan Strategic Dialogue, said here he had assured Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone that India would participate constructively in negotiations on nuclear disarmament and New Delhi’s consistent policy was to support a universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable regime for a nuclear weapon-free world.
The two Foreign Ministers were addressing a joint press conference after their talks during which they reviewed Indo-Japanese relations since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Tokyo in October 2008.
”We are making progress in our negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Foreign Minister Nakasone and I agreed on the necessity of concluding a high quality and mutually-beneficial agreement. We have also agreed to expedite work on the Dedicated Freight Corridor and Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor projects,” Mr Krishna said.
The Japanese Foreign Minister said they discussed the need to work together to commence negotiations on the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) as soon as possible.
The External Affairs Minister said they had reviewed implementation of the Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation and discussed regional and multilateral issues including UN Reform and multi-lateral economic arrangements in Asia.
”We consider it important that both of us regularly share assessments on such issues,” Mr Krishna said.
The two Ministers discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula and agreed that nuclear and missile development by North Korea was a threat to the international community.
They also agreed on the need to ‘’steadfastly” implement the UN Security Council Resolution 1874 and make North Korea take it very seriously.
The two Foreign Ministers also discussed ways how to carry forward the process of implementing the agreement and understandings contained in the two Joint Documents signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Japan last year.
They agreed to commence a bilateral dialogue on maritime security including the issue of piracy.
On the isssue of climate change, both the Ministers hoped that all countries would participate constructively in the UNFCCC framework and the Kyoto Protocol for an ambitious, equitable and fair outcome at the Copenhagen Summit this year.
The Japanese Foreign Minister pointed out the significance of the Major Economies Forum–COP 15–and hoped India would exercise leadership evenmore positively.
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