Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto on Friday expressed “appreciation” of India's offer of “additional assistance, if necessary” towards Japan's continuing efforts to overcome the devastation caused by a series of natural disasters.
An Indian relief and rehabilitation team has already fulfilled several need-based tasks in the Miyagi prefecture, one of the worst affected areas.
India's new offer was spelt out by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao when she called on Mr. Matsumoto in Tokyo. In a briefing on their talks, Japanese spokesman Hidenobu Sobashima told The Hindu from Tokyo Ms. Rao indicated that “India intends to consult Japan before making a decision” on whether to ban the import of Japan's food products.
She told the Japanese Foreign Minister that the reported Indian move “is only a recommendation” in the relevant circles.
The food import issue figured in the context of Mr. Matusumoto's exposition of “the current situation in Japan, including the status of the troubled [Fukushima Daiichi] nuclear power plant.” The multi-reactor atomic energy plant, ravaged by the March 11 temblor and tsunami, has spawned a nuclear radiation crisis.
Significantly in this context, “the two sides agreed on the importance of nuclear energy and agreed to continue consultations on the issue of nuclear energy.”
Asked whether Japan would in fact continue talks with India on civil nuclear cooperation, in spite of the accident at Fukushima, Mr. Sobashima said: “I don't have the details of [Mr. Matsumoto's] remarks. [However], this is the intention, I presume so.”
On Ms. Rao's dialogue with Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Kenichiro Sasae and the bilateral consultations with the Japanese side led by Deputy Foreign Minister Koro Bessho, the Indian side said, in a press release, that the exchanges were “constructive and useful”.
