Of India & Japan....

In a relief for India, Japan has finally decided to resume negotiations with New Delhi for a civil nuclear cooperation deal this week.
Sources said the fourth round of negotiations on the India-Japan Agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy will be held in Tokyo on Tuesday.
The third round of talks was held in November 2010. The dialogue had remained stalled since the Fukushima accident in March 2011. The agreement with Japan is important also for the US because it will allow its firms like Westinghouse, which have Japanese owners, to source critical equipment for their Indian reactors from Japanese companies.
The Japanese government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had earlier suggested that it may restart talks with India that had remained stalled since the Fukushima disaster.
The actual start of the fourth round of negotiations on Tuesday in Tokyo, though, will still be touted as an achievement for none other than PM Manmohan Singh himself — who has invested in relations with Japan — as there is still a strong anti-nuclear power sentiment in Japan.
The development follows the summit meeting between Singh and Abe in May 2013 in Tokyo, where the two leaders had reaffirmed the importance of civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries while recognizing that nuclear safety is a priority for both governments.
They had directed their officials to accelerate the negotiations for an Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy towards an early conclusion.
Even in a meeting with Abe’s predecessor Yoshihiko Noda in Cambodia last year, Singh had expressed hope that Japan would soon share its nuclear technology and expertise with India.
The Indian delegation in Tuesday’s talks will be led by Gautam Bambawale, joint secretary (East Asia), ministry of external affairs, and includes Venkatesh Varma, joint secretary (disarmament), apart from officials of the Department of Atomic Energy (DEA). Japan will be led by Makita Shimokawa, deputy director general, southeast and southwest Asian affairs department.