Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to visit India next month for annual summit

Modi and Abe are likely to review implementation of various decisions taken in course of...

New Delhi:

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be here on December 11 to hold annual summit talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and take further the already close relations between the two major Asian economies.

In the 9th annual Indo-Japan summit talks, Modi and Abe are likely to review implementation of various decisions taken in course of last one year to boost ties, particularly in the trade and investment sector.

\"The Japanese Prime Minister will be here on December 11,\" said a source.

Modi had visited Japan from August 30 to September 3 last year during which that country had announced doubling of its private and public investment in India to about USD 34 billion over a period of five years. The two sides had also decided to elevate their ties to a Special Strategic Global Partnership.

During the summit talks last year, Modi and Abe had agreed to enhance defence and strategic cooperation to a new level and also decided to speed up negotiations on civil nuclear deal.

While agreeing on greater defence equipment and technology cooperation, the two sides had decided to expedite discussions on modalities for the sale of Japanese US-2 amphibian aircraft.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had held talks with top Japanese officials in Tokyo last month to finalise agenda and other details of Abe's visit here.

India and Japan have been expanding their economic and strategic engagement in recent years resulting in cooperation in a vast swathe of fields including defence and security.

The economic engagement witnessed significant rise after both countries signed a a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2011.