India, Japan to Discuss Bullet Train Project, Nuclear, Seaplane Deal in Tokyo

by Indrani Bagchi
NEW DELHI: Arvind Panagariya, chairman NITI Aayog, finance secretary Shaktikanta Das and foreign secretary S Jaishankar will be in Tokyo to take forward discussions on the high speed railway project. The first high speed railway, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is being done by Japan on generous funding terms.
Arun Jaitley, finance minister, will also be travelling to Japan later this month on an invitation from Nikkei. This is important because the scheduled 2+2 dialogue between foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and her Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida could not meet because of her illness. That would mean a gap in high level contact between the two sides. Jaitley's visit would be an occasion to engage at the highest levels.
Having concluded negotiations on a nuclear deal with Japan, India would be tracking its progress through the Japanese parliament. With elections to the upper house expected in July, India wants the parliament ratification to be completed by the time prime minister Narendra modi visits Japan possibly in September.

A related issue is the possible sale of the US-2 seaplane by Japanese firm ShinMaywa to India. The deal is stuck, mostly in the Indian defence ministry which is yet to formally requisition its acquisition. In addition, Japan's export control rules are restrictive, which makes it difficult.