TOKYO (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's three-day visit to India is to a certain degree, being heralded as a success, as official talks with his counterpart Manmohan Singh, as well as closed-door meetings with top Indian industrialists and bankers, have deepened diplomatic understanding and cohesion and boosted economic bilateral relations.

However, while discussions on trade and commerce were particularly fruitful, the two countries didn't have a meeting of minds on all issues and some local media reports described Hatoyama's visit as “somewhat superficial.”
Political analysts have described diplomatic ties between Japan and India as “frosty” in recent years, as Japan's former administration didn't fully register India's emerging possibilities on its economic radar and the two countries became embroiled in nuclear debates, which further strained bilateral ties.
?Prior to meeting with his equivalent, Hatoyama held talks with top Indian industrialists, including Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata and Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani, at hotel in Mumbai, as both countries seek to perpetuate and augment a diverse economic relationship that will ensure strong growth and development in the fields of trade, business and infrastructure, reciprocally beneficial for both nations.
Although analysts have commented that bilateral economic relations have yet to reach their full potential, Hatoyama was assured by India's business leaders that the growth of the Indian economy offers prodigious opportunities to substantially increase trade and economic cooperation between both countries.
This sentiment was reflected by India's premier in talks aimed at expediting negotiations on formalizing an official, economic partnership pact between the two nations.
Describing the economic partnership as the “bedrock” of India-Japan relations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said that the two countries have decided to expedite negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), according to local media reports.
Japan is already India's sixth largest investor and annual trade between the two countries amounts to some 12 billion U.S. dollars, according to recent statistics. This figure is set to leap to as much as 20 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, as the two nations look to amplify their economic ties, on the back of a series of successful tie ups.
The Tata-DoCoMo tie-up and the Daiichi Sankyo venture with Ranbaxy Laboratories, perceptibly contributed to annual trade figures between the two countries and the success of the collaborations has seen the number of Japanese companies investing in India more than doubling in the past three years, from 267 in 2006, to 627 in 2009.
“We are hopeful that this (CEPA) can be completed in time for the next annual summit meeting,” said Singh in his opening remarks at a press conference with Hatoyama.
Highlighting the scope of potential for an enhanced cooperative economic approach by the two countries, Singh made it clear that further Japanese investments in India were “welcome”.
“In particular, there is a great scope for the expansion of cooperation in the areas of urban infrastructure, high technology and renewable and energy-efficient technologies,” Singh said.
At the summit-level meeting, the two sides also agreed on the early implementation of the Dedicated Freight Corridor project between Mumbai and Delhi.
Hatoyama also trumpeted the decision to establish a Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Chennai office, which would accelerate further investment by small and medium-sized Japanese enterprises in India.