agreement

Tokyo, Dec 15 (UNI) As the only country to have suffered a nuclear bomb attack, Japan today made it clear that it had reservations about openly endorsing the India-US Civil Nuclear deal even as it decided to establish a "Strategic and Global Partnership" with India to take bilateral relations to a higher level.

The two countries also took a series of decisions to enhance their economic relations and bring about a quantum increase in people-to-people contacts.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe after their summit level talks that he was "deeply satisfied" with the outcome of his visit.

The two leaders first had a 45-minute restricted meeting before they were joined by their respective delegations.

The Indian team to the talks included Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary T K A Nair and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.

On the Indo-US deal, Mr Abe said Japan would wait for India to sign the required country-specific agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before making up its mind.

"India should respond to the concerns of the international community and agree to IAEA safeguards," Mr Abe said.

The Japanese Prime Minister pointed out that his country had been the only victim of a nuclear attack. "We do have our sensitivities on such issues," he said.

Mr Abe said he had told Dr Singh at their meeting that Japan was still in the process of finalising its position in the matter.

There was full understanding on the Indian side of the Japanese sensitivities on the issue.

The Japanese Prime Minister said Dr Singh had explained to him that India's needs for energy were increasing as the country grew and developed.

Dr Singh also told him that, going forward from the India-US deal, the country would also take appropriate IAEA safeguard measures, referring to the India-specific agreement that India would negotiate with the nuclear watchdog.

Mr Abe said as far as cooperation on civil nuclear energy with India in the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and other international fora is concerned, there will be discussions in which Japan would be actively involved. He said the two countries would also have bilateral discussions on the issue.

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