Japan, India not to reach FTA deal during PM Singh's visit+

TOKYO, Oct. 20 Kyodo - Japan and India will not reach a basic deal on terms for concluding a free trade agreement during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Tokyo later this week, government officials said Monday.

Japan and India could not narrow their differences sufficiently over how to
lower trade barriers in their latest negotiations, which ran through the
weekend in New Delhi, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
Japanese government officials had hoped that Tokyo and New Delhi would announce
an outline of their economic partnership agreement during Singh's three-day
visit from Tuesday.
Japan and India, the third-largest economy in Asia, launched talks on the
economic accord in January last year, and have shared the view since then that
the two countries would try to complete them ''in substance as soon as
possible, in approximately two years.''
Although there has been progress, it is uncertain whether the two countries
will make a major breakthrough in the negotiations by next January, the
officials said.
Meanwhile in New Delhi, Singh expressed his hopes of wrapping up the agreement
by the end of this year, saying to reporters, ''Before the year is out, we
should have an agreement on a comprehensive economic partnership.''
Areas in which Japan and India have not been able to find common ground include
defining the nationality of goods traded between the two countries, or
so-called ''rules of origin,'' and details of mutual recognition arrangements
for generic medicines and other items and services, the officials said.
Singh is scheduled to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso on
Wednesday.
''Prime Minister Aso places great emphasis on Japan's relations with India,''
Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka told a news conference in Tokyo on Monday
afternoon.
''We would like to further develop our friendly relations into more business
and economic-oriented ties,'' the Foreign Ministry's top bureaucrat said.
''There are also many areas where the two nations can work together in politics
and national security.''
During Singh's visit, the two countries are also expected to unveil an
agreement on bilateral strategic security cooperation, such as joint exercises,
ship visits and naval patrols, Indian official sources said.
The Indian premier is scheduled to meet Japanese business leaders and the
foreign and industry ministers, as well as Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko,
on Wednesday ahead of his talks with Aso.
It will be Singh's second visit to Japan this year, following his July trip to
attend the outreach session at the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido.
==Kyodo