Roundup: Japan's FM starts Asia-Europe tour to boost economic ties

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida left here Thursday for India, France, Belgium and Britain, in an effort to promote Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "global diplomacy" to help boost Japan's economic cooperation with India and the EU.

The eight-day trip through Jan. 22 marked the first foreign visits by the Japanese top diplomat, who said earlier that he "must firmly advance 'diplomacy that takes a panoramic perspective of the world map'" this year and that Asia and Europe are important partners for Japan's foreign diplomacy.

Prior to his departure, Kishida said at a press conference that he wants to convey a clear message to the international community on the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII that how Japan could contribute to global peace, stability and prosperity and address global issues.

The foreign minister plans to hold a strategic dialogue with Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi and would possibly talk about issues of India's purchase of Japan's US-2 rescue plane and reform of the UN Security Council.

The ongoing bilateral talks on nuclear power technology cooperation are also supposed to be on the agenda of Kishida's visit. The negotiation was left far behind the bilateral bullet train collaboration due to India's position over the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Tokyo insisted that New Delhi abandon its nuclear weapons testing program and allow more inspections on its facilities to ensure that spent fuel is not being reprocessed into weapons grade materials, according to sources close to the matter.

Japan and India saw an acceleration in bilateral ties since the two countries' prime ministers exchanged visits last year, with reports saying that Abe made an "uncharacteristic hug" to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the later's visit to Japan in September.

The two sides agreed during Modi's visit to set a target of doubling Japanese investment in India and the number of Japanese companies operating in the emerging country within five years, with Abe pledging a loan of around 479 million U.S. dollars to India for a public-private partnership infrastructure project in southern Asian country.

Japan also expressed willingness to introduce its bullet train technology, or Shinkansen services system, to India to help the country develop its high speed rail project.

India, the third largest economy in Asia, is seeking to upgrade its dated infrastructure to found new economic growth drive and what Japan could provide is the very needs of the new Indian government under Modi.

The top diplomat said that his country must build a firm relationship of trust with the EU that launched a new administration in December.

He planned to hold talks with Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, in Brussels, on cooperation in restrictions against Russia over Ukrainian issues.

Japan and the EU eyed to forge a free trade agreement in 2015, with Japan aiming to increase automobile and television exports to the 28-nation bloc, while the EU trying to enlarge its exports of cheese and wine to Japan and calling for the removal of non-tariff barriers related to vehicles and medical equipment.

In France, the second stop of Kishida's four-nation trip, the foreign minister will hold talks with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius over counter-terrorism cooperation, including cooperation over threats posted by the Islamic State.

Together with Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, Kishida will attend the first security meeting involving the foreign ministers and defense chiefs of Japan and Britain. Japan aims to sell its P-1 anti-submarine patrol plane to Britain under its new weapon export law. Military equipment export is also considered as an important economic drive for Abe. Endit