India, Japan appreciate their economic cooperation influencing partnership

Tokyo, Oct.25 (ANI): Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Monday underlined the vital importance of economic cooperation, and Japan's Official Development Assistance to India and Special Economic Partnership Initiatives, in strengthening India-Japan partnership.

Prime Minister Singh expressed his appreciation to the Government and the people of Japan for Japan's generous role in India's development.

The two Prime Ministers aimed for early completion of both phases of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor in India in a parallel manner with Japan's financial and technical assistance.

Both the leaders noted with satisfaction the progress on the Phase II of the Corridor with the signing of the Exchange of Notes for the Engineering Services for Phase II in July 2010.

They expressed their desire to accelerate progress on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).

Prime Minister Kan expressed his intention to enhance Japan's involvement to DMICDC (Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation) through the efforts of related organizations such as JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) and AOTS (Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship).

The two Prime Ministers positively appraised the efforts from both sides to develop the Corridor in an eco-friendly manner as "Smart Communities" and welcomed the progress of cooperation in the field of urban development.

They took note of the potential of the DMIC project to enhance physical connectivity across Asia.

They encouraged greater investment from Japan into India including in the infrastructure sector over the next decade to realize this vision, and asked their respective sides to engage in dialogues on public-private partnership on DMIC.

Prime Minister Dr. Singh appreciated Japan's decision on the extension of the period of technical cooperation programme, Visionary Leaders for Manufacturing (VLFM) Programme, said a joint statement.

The two Prime Ministers hoped that this programme will contribute to the development of manufacturing sector in India. (ANI)