Ties between India and Japan are "rooted in long history", and both share common values in terms of democracy, supremacy of law, human rights and global peace, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said here on Monday."Sixty four years have passed since both India and Japan established their diplomatic relations and during this period, they have been able to build a very robust partnership based on mutually convergent strategic and economic interests," Rijiju said, addressing a seminar here on 'Indo-Pacific Region: Converging India-Japan interests', organised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF).The Minister of State for Home Affairs also said that India and Japan have signed a declaration on security cooperation and taken several steps to strengthen the cooperation in defence production and civil nuclear energy.
Speaking about economic ties between the two nations, Rijiju said that Japan is supporting several of India's mega-infrastructure projects, including the Delhi-Mumbai Freight Corridor, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor and Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed railway. He said both the countries have entered into a comprehensive economic partnership agreement to boost trade and investment. Japanese private investment has made a great impact on the Indian automobile sector, he added.Rijiju said that India has been the biggest recipient of Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) loans since 2003.