India and Japan today resolved to strengthen their strategic and global partnership with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that Indo-Japan bilateral relations are a matter of the highest priority for India. Signalling its intentions to further economic ties with India, Japan said it attached immense importance to the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor projects “as symbols of cooperation” with India.

Singh, who met Japanese premier Yukio Hatoyama on the sidelines of the 15th Asean Summit here, said India accorded the highest priority to its relations with Japan and pledged to build upon this positive momentum through close cooperation with the Japanese government, Secretary (East) Ministry of External Affairs N Ravi said after the meeting.

The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCI) is building what would be the country’s largest infrastructure project involving almost 3,300 kilometres of railway tracks. The cost of the project has now ballooned to Rs 42,231 crore, which is more than double the Cabinet-approved project cost of Rs 28,000 crore. Its cost is further likely to escalate to about Rs 60,000 crore. Japan International Cooperation Agency has okayed a Rs 17,000-crore loan for the western corridor but has imposed a conditionality whereby 30 per cent of the total loan amount should be used to buy some goods from Japan. This is where India is seeking not to bind itself and the issue is understood to have figured in the meeting today between Singh and his Japanese counterpart.