Tokyo, Oct. 25: The foreign secretary, Ms Nirupama Rao, also clarified that after two rounds of “very successful talks”, with the Japanese business community and political leaders, the dates for the next round had now been set for the third week of November. “There is a zest and a momentum on both sides, it has not slowed down, it has not been derailed. Negotiations are delicate and complex. But the political resolve has been very clearly enunciated by both nations,” she said.
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, while addressing Nippon Keidanren, signalled to the Japanese chamber of commerce and industry, which has been eager to invest in energy-starved India but is being held back by a government in Tokyo wary of the domestic reaction, indicated that the onus to push this forward rested with Japan. He said: “I hope Japan will participate in the Indian civil nuclear industry for peaceful purposes. But I recognise the sensitivities of Japan, and I will not push the issue.”
Sources said that in a marked departure from its insistence in the past that India must sign the CTBT before talks can move forward — an enunciation of which continues to find a mention in the joint statement — the Japanese PM, Mr Naoto Kan, told Dr Singh that Japan “fully trusts India’s commitment on holding to its moratorium on testing.