Modi's Japan visit 2014: PM goes to Japan, deals in defence, civil nuclear likely

NEW DELHI: On his first bilateral visit outside the subcontinent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have an "extremely substantive" agenda when the travels to Japan this weekend amid "great expectations" of the strategic and global partnership being taken to a new level.

Cooperation in the fields of defence, civil nuclear, infrastructure development and rare earth materials besides enhancing business ties will be high on the priority of Modi's four-day trip during which he travel to Japan's 'smart city' Kyoto and capital Tokyo.

During the visit, Modi will have wide-ranging talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe and meet other leaders, discusing how to take forward the strategic and global partnership.

During the visit, some agreements, including in defence and civil nuclear sectors, are expected to be signed.

"The Prime Minister's visit to Japan will be extremely substantive... It will have wide range of events...Our expectations about the outcome are that India and Japan will be able to elevate the strategic and global partnership to a new level," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters while briefing on the significant visit.

In a special gesture, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will fly to Kyoto to receive Modi who will land there on Saturday in the first leg of his tour to study how the example of the Japanese city could be replicated in India.

Kyoto, known in local parlance as a 'smart city', is an example of cultural tradition and modernity, dovetailing Modi's own vision of building 100 smart cities in the country, Akbaruddin said while explaining why the Prime Minister chose Kyoto as his first stopover of the visit.