India wants to work with Japan on global warming
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NEW DELHI - India is interested in working with Japan on global warming, a senior official said Monday.
Ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s three-day state visit to India from Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon told reporters India wants to work together ‘’and evolve a framework which can be discussed at a multilateral level, particularly at the United Nations.'’
Abe has advocated the importance of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and suggested three principles to establish a post-Kyoto Protocol framework.
Japan will be chairing the Group of Eight summit next year and in all likelihood the momentum of discussions on climate change will increase by the yearend. The G-8 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Menon, in response to a question, said India will discuss the civilian nuclear energy issue with Japan and seek Japan’s support for a waiver from the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, Japan being a key member, on restrictions in nuclear trade with India.
Legal restrictions were imposed after a series of nuclear weapons tests by India in the 1970s.
‘’We will not ask for (Japan’s) support for the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal,'’ he added.
He declined to comment on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, which has become a burning political issue on the domestic front.
Abe’s visit takes place exactly half a century after his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, then Japanese prime minister, visited India in 1957 and spoke from the Red Fort, a 17th century Mughal architectural wonder in the Indian capital.
Abe’s visit is seen as adding a ‘’new dimension'’ to the India-Japan global and strategic partnership.
He is accompanied by a huge business delegation of around 180 people.
According to Menon, the interaction with the business delegation will provide an opportunity to discuss long-term strategy in the investment sector.
With Japan’s cooperation, the New Delhi Metro project has been a success.
And a feasibility report on a dedicated freight corridor — New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Kolkata — is expected to be submitted in October.
Menon did not mention any specific agreements the two sides might sign as Abe’s meeting are expected to be mostly stocktaking of earlier agreements and discussions.
Abe is also accompanied by several vice chancellors of different universities and their participation is to provide an opportunity to explore new ways of bringing the two countries together in academic areas, Menon said.
The two sides will also be reviewing science and technology cooperation.
Abe will be in New Delhi on Tuesday and Wednesday and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to hold a private dinner with him, a departure from official protocol.
Abe will address a joint parliament session Wednesday, a reciprocal speech for Singh’s address to the Diet when he visited Japan last December.
Abe will also call on the new President Pratibha Patil and meet with Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani and other senior Indian leaders.
He will visit Kolkata on Thursday and leave thereafter.
Abe’s visit is part of annual summits the two countries decided upon when Singh visited Japan.
The relationship between the two countries has taken a marked upturn since the visit of then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in April 2005 and the signing of the ‘’India-Japan partnership in the new Asian era: Strategic Orientation of India-Japan global partnership.'’
Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Climate Change, Energy and Nuclear Safety