Some Highlights of PM Modi Visit to KL and Singapore

· India has a special interest in the Dawei Special Economic Zone in Myanmar, and that India could utilise this interest to connect to the sea as well as by road to countries in ASEAN through Myanmar and Thailand. Japan is also in equal partnership in this project.

· Prime Minister Modi briefed Premier Li Keqiang on his International Solar Alliance proposal. This is an initiative by India to invite 122 countries which are solar-rich to come on a common platform and discuss ways and means of expanding the use of solar and introducing new technology so that solar applications can become more cost effective and contribute to the energy mix. He invited China to consider joining the International Solar Alliance which will be launched on the sidelines of the COP-21 in Paris. On the bilateral side, the two leaders discussed economic cooperation particularly trade and investment. Prime Minister Modi recalled that he had spoken about the need for reducing the trade deficit and balancing the trade in his last meeting with the Premier. In this context, he informed that we had constituted a High-Level Task Force to address the issue of trade deficit and sought an early meeting of the HLTF. A strategic economic dialogue under the NITI Aayog had also been instituted to take forward the economic partnership between India and China. Prime Minister Modi said that India wanted to benefit from Chinese expertise and areas such as skill development and the railway university which had worked very well in China.

· On the issue of Chinese investment in India, Prime Minister said that following the visit of President Xi Jinping to India and Prime Minister’s own visit to Beijing and Shanghai, a number of Chinese companies had indicated their desire to tap the Indian market. In this context, reference was made to the Wanda group which was investing several billion dollars in real estate projects in Haryana; Chinese entrepreneurs in areas such as renewable energy, mining and low cost housing were also actively scouting the Indian market.

· Science and technology and space offered other areas for India-China cooperation. On the issue of people to people exchanges, India’s decision to include China in the list of countries for electronic travel authorization visas has led to increase in the number of Chinese tourists visiting India.

· Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hosted a luncheon meeting for Prime Minister Modi and the delegation.

· Prime Minister is coming to visit to India to participate in the Annual Summit, dates for which will be announced in due course. 

· Japan has participated in the recent Malabar Naval exercises. There were also discussions on regional connectivity and maritime security.

· Line of credit of USD 1 billion has been announced by the Prime Minister specifically for connectivity projects with ASEAN. 

South China Sea

· The need for freedom of navigation and over flight through the South China Sea, and for all countries to observe international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The issue of South China Sea did not come up in the discussions with China. It came up in the discussions with Japan.

· South China Sea issue going to be raised with every leader in a bilateral meeting because clearly the Government wants to increase its presence in this region, increase its strength.

· There already are ongoing tensions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea and Japan is certainly affected by that, and that is why this came up in this particular bilateral meeting the Prime Minister had with Prime Minister Abe.