india- japan

India and Japan Signed Earths Pact on Rare Earth Minerals

India and Japan signed an Earths Pact on 16 November 2012 that will enable the latter to import the rare Earth minerals from India. These rare minerals are very important for the Tech-savvy industries of Japan. The pact came as a conclusion despite postponement of India-Japan annual summit. 

As per the signed pact, Japan will be able to import 4000 tonnes rare Earth minerals for a year from India. By signing the pact, Japan has branched out its supply from China for metals which are used in their industries. 

Japan now hopes that the pact will reduce its dependency on China for these rare minerals. It is important to note here that Japan is in tiff on the issue of Senkaku islands with China. 

Apart from this, India-Japan also signed a social security pact. These two pacts which were destined to come into force on the now-cancelled Indian PM’s trip were reinforced in Japan





















JIMEX 12 : India, Japan to have first bilateral naval exercise off Tokyo
JIMEX 12 = Japan India Maritime Exercise 2012
India and Japan will hold their first bilateral naval exercise off Tokyo. 4 Indian warships including the INS Rana, INS
Shakti and INS Shivalik are in Tokyo harbor to celebrate 60 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the
two countries. The basic bilateral exercises with Japanese self-defence force will be held while Indian warships return
from there.
Objective:
 Maritime Security Cooperation.
 These include Humanitarian Aid & Disaster Relief (HADR) operations and Visit, Board, Searchand Seizure (VBSS)
drills, which form a part of Anti-Piracy operations.
 The two countries also intend to increase cooperation in anti-piracy operations offthe coast of Somalia in the
Gulf of Aden and launch a maritime dialogue mechanism. The warships of the two navies are coordinating in
patrolling in the Gulf of Aden to help escort a larger number of cargo vessels sailing through the troubled waters

there. Thus permitting Indian and Japanese navies to swimmingly operate together in the arena of maritime
security / HADR operations, should the need bob up.







Japan and India  launched a joint research project into pricing structures in LNG markets.

Japan’s industry minister Yukio Edano and Deputy chairman of Planning commission of India  Montek Singh Ahluwalia, signed the agreement on joint research in Tokyo. Resource-poor Japan is on the hunt for cheaper energy, with the situation further worsened by the shuttering of all but two of its nuclear reactors amid public distrust following tsunami-sparked meltdowns at Fukushima

Japan is the world’s top importer of liquefied natural gas. Asian buyers pay far more than those in North America because the price is index-linked to oil on the continent. Under the present pricing structures in LNG markets, the price in North America is determined on the basis of supply and demand.













Japan will offer Rs 400 crore financial aid to the West Bengal Govt for social forestry
in the state. The state Government has increased the amount of compensation to
Rs 2 lakh for the families who died in tusker attacks. The State Government has
also raised compensation for damage of crops due to elephant menace.