New Delhi, October 29
Notwithstanding the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March, the proposed India-Japan nuclear deal figured prominently during talks between the foreign ministers of the two  countries today.

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna discussed a whole range of bilateral issues as well as the global situation with his Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba in Tokyo.

“I also discussed with Foreign Minister Gemba the status of civil nuclear cooperation between our countries. As you are aware, we have had three rounds of negotiations on this subject. After the discussions today, I am optimistic on this score.

A nuclear deal with India has been a sensitive issue in Japan, the only country, which suffered a nuclear holocaust 66 years ago. The Fukushima radiation disaster has made the Japanese establishment more circumspect and it had put nuclear negotiations with India on the backburner.

During the India-Japan strategic dialogue, Krishna suggested to the Japanese side that Indian and Japanese Navies conduct bilateral exercises apart from multilateral ones.

“Our Defence Minister (AK Antony) will be in Tokyo in a few days and will discuss this subject  in greater detail with  his Japanese counterpart,” he said.

Krishna also discussed the India-Japan-United States trilateral dialogue, which has upset China to a great extent. He said the dialogue would be held very soon and cover regional and international issues of concern to all three countries.

He thanked Japan for its consistent support to India's developmental effort by means of its Official Development Assistance (ODA). “This year, Japan has maintained the level of ODA for India despite its focus on reconstruction activity after the earthquake and tsunami. This is a strong vote of confidence in India’s growth story and exhibits the importance Japan attaches to our strategic partnership.’’

Noting that the Japanese Government has removed 7 Indian entities from its foreign end-user list this year, Krishna said this would boost high-technology trade between the  two countries.

He said India was  looking forward to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to India in December for the annual summit with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.