New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left New Delhi today on a two-nation five-day visit to Japan and Thailand.
On a three-day visit to Tokyo, Dr Singh will make a strong pitch for elevating strategic ties and push for a bilateral pact on civil nuclear energy cooperation.
Dr Singh will hold exhaustive talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Wednesday on the entire gamut of bilateral ties with special focus on giving boost to cooperation in defence, economic, energy and other areas.
"There is a growing congruence in our interest and I see this relationship as an essential component of our vision for enduring stability and prosperity in Asia," the Prime minister said.
Dr Singh said in his summit with the new government of Japan led by "good friend" Abe, he will build on the momentum imparted by successive summits to the India-Japan Strategic and Global Partnership.
On the civil nuclear cooperation agreement, Dr Singh told Japanese reporters that there are problems in Japan and there are elections to the upper house in that country which will take place later this year.
"But, I do hope that we can make progress in the civil nuclear energy cooperation," he said.
"It will be my effort to use this visit to strengthen our strategic and global partnership, which also includes trying to reach an agreement with regard to civil nuclear energy cooperation," Dr Singh said.