PM arrives in Japan

Kyoto: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in this Japanese city on Saturday on a visit which is expected to see new vistas being opened in bilateral ties with particular focus on cooperation in the fields of defence, civil nuclear and infrastructure besides commerce.
On his first bilateral visit outside the subcontinent as the Prime Minister, Modi arrived at the Osaka International Airport to begin the first leg of his five-day visit to Japan.
In the first leg of his trip, he will see the ‘smart city’ experiment here considering that he intends to build 100 smart cities in India.
Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will have substantive summit meeting in Tokyo on September 1 during which the two sides will look at ways to take the Strategic and Global Partnership forward.
Modi has a substantive agenda during the trip which he hopes will “write a new chapter” in bilateral ties and take the Strategic and Global Partnership to a higher level.
Underlining the importance of the visit, the “excited” Modi said on the eve of the trip that Japan has “paramount importance” in his vision for India’s development and progress. India has “great expectations” from the visit, the External Affairs Ministry has said.
Cooperation in the fields of defence, civil nuclear, infrastructure development and rare earth materials is expected to top the agenda of the discussions.
Some agreements, including in defence and civil nuclear sectors, are expected to be signed.
Among the agreements to be signed is one on joint production of rare earth materials. (PTI)