Japan and India have signed letters of agreement that outline cooperation in civil nuclear power and in other industrial developments. The highlights of the cooperation accords allow for Japan to export its nuclear power technology and services to India and for the development of a bullet train in India, which is a big ticket export item for Japan.
The memorandum of understanding letters were signed in New Delhi over the weekend by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“This enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India's journey into the future,” various sources quoted Modi as saying.
India's ambitions in nuclear power have been hampered by its position regarding the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Talks with Japan also stalled after the March 2011 earthquake in Japan that created a tsunami event that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant about 150 miles northeastern of Tokyo.
India has made signed cooperation agreements with Canada, France, Russia, Australia and the United States that include conditions linked to its being a nuclear state that has not signed the non-proliferation treaty. With Japan, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda told the media that the agreements end if India conducts a nuclear weapons test.
The deal-making between the two countries has been years in the making, but times change. Specifically, in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi incident and increased accident safeguards in Japan, what was once a country with a green light for nuclear power has become a country that is cutting back on the nuclear power option. As such, the companies in Japan with sophisticated prowess in nuclear power must seek outside markets in order to keep themselves in business.
Agreements signed Sunday, during Abe's third visit to India as the head of state, also involve technology and equipment related to defense and data security.