Phnom Penh, Nov 20: After they missed an opportunity of meeting in Tokyo, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda met today to review the bilateral relations and ways in which these could be pushed further.
Singh and Noda, who met on the sidelines of East Asia Summit, shared the view that the relationship between the two countries were warm.
In his opening remarks, Noda noted that the bilateral relations have been historically good and were now in the 60th year of diplomatic ties. He pointed out that the relations were now of the nature of Strategic Partnership.
Singh agreed that the ties were extremely good. The two leaders were initially to meet on November 16 in Tokyo when Singh was to travel there for a three-day visit beginning November 15. However, the visit was cancelled a day ahead in view of sudden political developments in Japan with Noda deciding to announce elections.
The two sides were to sign an agreement on exploration of rare earth materials besides some pacts in infrastructure sector. The rare earths agreement was later signed in Tokyo by Indian ambassador and Japanese foreign minister.
