Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to visit India

New Delhi, Dec.26 (ANI): Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will arrive in Mumbai tomorrow on a three day visit to India on the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

During his stay, The Japanese Prime Minister would have discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the 4th Annual Summit between India and Japan.

The discussions are considered significant as India has recently conducted military exercises with Japan, followed by the visit of Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony to Tokyo.

The Japanese Premier will also be meeting the leaders of Indian business fraternity in Mumbai, which include Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata group. In Mumbai, he will pay tributes to the victims of 26/11 terror attacks and will call on the Maharashtra Governor S.C.Jamir.

During his stay in India, he will also meet R.K. Pachauri, head of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and call on the United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

During the summit level talks discussion would focus on strengthening bilateral relations besides India-Japan strategic and global partnership.

Other important matters, including measures to control terrorism, a free trade agreement and climate issues are expected to come up during the discussions.

It will be Japanese Prime Minister's first visit to India since the 62-year-old took over office after his Democratic Party of Japan swept to power in lower house elections, ousting the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony recently visited Japan (November 8-10). Indian and Japan undertook joint military exercises and defence exchanges in the past like the trilateral Malabar exercise in April- May, 2009. By Sandhya Sharma (ANI)