Mr. Taro Aso, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, to visit India

NEW DELHI: January 2, 2006

Mr. Taro Aso, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, will visit India from January 3 (Tue.) to 4 (Wed.), 2006. It will be Foreign Minister Aso's first visit to Asia for bilateral consultations. It is well known that Mr. Aso had mentioned in his inaugural press conference that promotion of friendly relations with India should be one of his top priority.

During his stay in India, Mr. Aso will meet H.E. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, H.E. Mr. Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce and Industry, H.E. Mr. E. Ahmed, Minister of State for External Affairs, and Mr. M.K. Narayanan, National Security Advisor.

The most important mission for Foreign Minister Aso is to consolidate the good signs that we see today in our bilateral relations into long-lasting trends, by bridging Prime Minister Mr. Junichiro Koizumi's visit to India last April and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to Japan expected next summer. Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to Japan will be an occasion to convert our spiritual affinities, which date back to the 6th century when Buddhism was introduced to Japan, to brotherly bonds with commitment and responsibility to build a peaceful and stable community in the region and beyond, together, hand in hand.

In line with the Eight-fold Initiative announced during Mr. Koizumi's visit, and for paving the way for Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit, Foreign Minister Aso will discuss the four pillars of Japan-India bilateral relations, namely, political and security initiatives, economic relations, people-to-people exchanges, and regional and global issues.

In the political and security front, Foreign Minister Mr. Aso will discuss measures to further deepen our strategic cooperation. In the economic front, both sides will discuss concrete ways and means to further activate our bilateral relations in a wider spectrum, so as to propel Asian economy as a whole. As for people-to-people exchanges, the Foreign Minister will push forward the fruits of Mr. Koizumi's visit, during which both leaders emphasized the importance of cultural and academic exchanges, as well as multifold increase of two-way tourism. Without strong and consistent contact and interaction at the people-to-people level, the Global Partnership becomes a tall building without stable foundations. There will be more than enough topics to discuss under the regional and global issues, such as East Asia Summit and UN reform.

Mr. Aso has been actively engaging himself in enhancing Japan–India relations for many years. He visited India in 2000 along with the then Prime Minister, Mr. Yoshiro Mori, when the Prime Ministers of Japan and India agreed to launch the so-called “Japan–India Global Partnership.”

Mr. Aso also visited India in August 2005 as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, to follow up on the aforementioned visit by Prime Minister Koizumi last April 2005. During his visit, Mr. Aso signed a Joint Declaration with his Indian counterpart, which aimed at enhancing the bilateral cooperation in Information and Communication Technology.