NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to Japan, which concluded earlier this week, was on all counts a highly successful affair. By far the biggest achievement of the visit was the normalizing of ties that had hit their lowest ebb since the Pokhran-II explosions.

One concrete achievement was the resumption of overseas development assistance which had been suspended as a mark of retaliation for nuclear blasts. This includes an assistance of 56 billion yen for the Simhadri power plant in Andhra Pradesh and the Delhi metro rail.

In addition, Japan has also agreed to send an economic mission to look into investment prospects from Japan and joint venture possibilities.

Furthermore, spelling out common political perspectives was also on the agenda of the visit. It significantly ignored traditional references either to the NPT or the CTBT.

The declaration called for regular yearly consultations between both the countries and specified the structure for such a dialogue.

Japan also invited Vajpayee to participate in the meeting next year to discuss rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan.

The joint declaration could be termed as one of historical significance. It marked the emergence of Japan as a power in the international political arena.

Its emphasis was on forging a strategic relationship with India particularly in its fight against terrorism. Thus, setting aside

the insistence on India to sign the CTBT or the NPT, the declaration merely noted India’s efforts to develop a national consensus over the issue.

Specifically, the declaration said, “Japan took note of the efforts of the government of India to develop a broad national consensus on the signing of the CTBT as early as possible, and to continue the unilateral moratorium until the treaty comes into force.”

Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi also expressed his desire to develop “strategic convergence” between India and Japan.

An institutional mechanism has been agreed to be set up through Indo-Japan comprehensive security dialogue and the India-Japan military consultation on a regular basis.

The joint declaration specifically mentioned cooperation in the economic field and in the areas of information technology.

Explaining the significance of Indo-Japan strategic axis, Vajpayee told a gathering of Japanese parliamentarians: “We have important security commonalities and some strategic convergences. Many of them have been accentuated after Sept 11.”

In particular, he emphasized joint efforts on the security front which included among other things the cooperation for the joint protection of commercial sea lanes.

The visit enabled Vajpayee to propose 60 infrastructure projects to the Japanese investors.