Ahead of summit talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Japanese Premier Taro Aso was non-committal on Tokyo opening the doors for nuclear commerce with India as he batted strongly for an economic pact to further bolster bilateral ties.

Aso, who will be meeting Singh in Tokyo on Wednesday, hoped that India would stick to its unilateral moratorium on atomic tests and “implement” commitments made to the NSG for securing the waiver that ended its 34-year nuclear apartheid.

In an e-mail interview, Aso did not directly respond to whether Tokyo would allow Japanese nuclear power companies to engage in nuclear commerce with India but highlighted that Japanese nuclear power industry was strong and had proven credentials.

The Japanese government had boldly supported the Indo-US civil nuclear deal at the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG) despite a public outcry in the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings during World War II.

On the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the two countries, he said “substantative progress” has been made in their negotiations.

“EPA is one of the most important issues. I would like EPA to become the trigger for further development of the economic relations between Japan and India, Aso said.

“In order to do so, EPA needs to be of a high quality and beneficial to both countries.” He also expressed confidence that Singh’s visit to Japan will give a “renewed momentum” to the enhancement of bilateral relations.

The Japanese PM said the EPA will become the “trigger” for expanding bilateral economic ties.

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