Calling the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project a “very symbolic” one, Japan’s Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu said on Monday that he hoped the Indian government would “amicably and satisfactorily” resolve all land acquisition issues.
“I have 100% trust in India to complete this high-speed railway project,” Mr. Hiramatsu said at Brookings India ahead of the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, in Tokyo on October 28 and 29.
The Hindu had reported on Sunday that according to a report of the Palghar District Collector’s office submitted to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary and Chief Project Officer of the National High Speed Railway Corporation Ltd., nearly all of the 108 km of land spread over 73 villages needed for the project was yet to be acquired.
During the summit, Mr. Abe and Mr. Modi are expected to discuss the project.
Mr. Hiramatsu said Japan remains committed to financing the ₹1.08-lakh-crore railway project and will “continue to do so”.
Taking of strategic cooperation, Mr. Hiramatsu said the defence-security relationship is “catching up” with the economic cooperation and outlined a series of joint exercises in the offing between the two militaries.
Japan has responded to the Indian Navy’s ongoing submarine tender under Project-75I. Mr. Hiramatsu said Japan was keen on collaborating with India in this area.
“We are in the process of discussing between Japanese Government and private sector. We haven’t come up with any kind of decision on the cooperation with regard to the possibility of collaborating with India with regard to submarine development,” Mr. Hiramatsu said.
A senior Japanese official added that while the process of the Defence Ministry is already under way, Japan was keen on future collaboration with India in this area.
During Mr. Modi’s summit the two sides will review the ongoing discussions for two defence agreements, an implementation agreement between the two navies regarding Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) and a mutual logistics support agreement.
Mr. Hiramatsu added that it was ‘high time’ to have this logistics support agreement.
