Click to play videoNew Delhi: After his four-day visit to Japan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while returning to India, said that he was not disappointed by Japan's reservations about openly endorsing the India-US civil nuclear deal.
He said he was convinced that, when the time came, Tokyo would support India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
"We are not at all disappointed that Japan has not made a formal statement supporting the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation deal," Singh said.
As the only country, which has suffered a nuclear attack, Japan made it clear on Saturday, at talks between Singh and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, that it had reservations about openly endorsing the deal.
"There is adequate appreciation of the fact that India needs nuclear power for its energy security and I am convinced that, when the time comes, Japan will be on our side," he said.
However, Abe said that Japan would wait for India to sign the proposed country-specific agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before making up its mind on the issue.
The Prime Minister said that he had not gone to Japan to "discuss these matters in any great length."
"The Japanese sensitivities on matters relating to nuclear have to be respected because they are the only country in the world which had been devastated by atomic weapons in the Second World War," he underlined.
Earlier on Saturday Abe had said that India should respond to the concerns of the international community and agree to IAEA safeguards.
Singh explained that under the Indo-US deal, Washington would seek a waiver from the Congress and then help and lobby for India in the NSG to modify its guidelines to enable international civil nuclear cooperation with India. Japan is a key member of the group.
"Our commitment is that we will have in place an India-specific safeguards agreement. That is the commitment, which is a public document, which is in the July 18 agreement (with the US) that the (Japanese) Prime Minister was mentioning," Singh said.
Billions of dollars investment from Japan
Investment to the tune of billions of dollars is expected from Japan in the near future, with the companies of that country displaying ‘new enthusiasm’ to participate in the emergence of ‘new India’ during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh there.
The second phase of Delhi Metro rail project will witness further collaboration from Japan, which is also keen to participate in the construction of the proposed Delhi-Mumbai freight and industrial corridors.
Several Japanese companies like Suzuki, Nomura Securities, Toshiba and Nissan have conveyed their readiness to go in for business in India in a major way.
"This visit of my mine will transform our relationship with Japan which is the second largest economy in the world," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.
Returning after a four-day visit to Tokyo where he asked the Japanese companies to look at India for investments, he said he had found "new enthusiasm" among the captains of the industry there with regard to this country.
"I feel for the first time, the synergy involving both governments and Japanese industries is most favourable as far as investing and trading with India are concerned," he said.
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