Partnership with Japan is high priority: Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the strategic and global partnership with Japan is a high priority for India and he was attaching great importance to his visit there which has been put off till after the budget session of Parliament ending August 14.

Receiving a Japanese Parliamentary delegation at his residence here, Modi said India and Japan share the "fundamental identity of values, interests and priorities".

This was Modi's first meeting with Japanese political leaders after assuming office of the Prime Minister.For India, the strategic and global partnership with Japan has high priority, the Prime Minister told the delegation. He said though he attached great importance to his visit to Japan, which was originally scheduled in the first week of July, he had to defer it in view of the budget session of parliament, the new government's first.

Modi has decided to postpone the visit till after the budget session which ends on August 14. He has already written a letter to his counterpart Shinzo Abe in this regard.

Talking about the bilateral relationship, Modi said apart from economic ties, India and Japan share strong Buddhist cultural linkages, according to a PMO statement. Modi, the former Chief Minister of Gujarat, noted that Japan has been a partner country for the 'Vibrant Gujarat' meet initiated during his tenure in the state.

Leader of the visiting delegation Ichiro Aisawa said Japanese nationals working in India have great expectations from Modi's government. He added the people of India also hoped that the new government will take the Indian economy to new heights.

Responding, the Prime Minister said his government had been elected with a mandate to make India strong and prosperous and the government would do its best to fulfill that mandate. He underlined that an economically vibrant and strong India was in the interest of the entire Asian continent. The Japanese delegation suggested parliamentary exchanges between the two countries, which was welcomed by the Prime Minister.