Abe first Japanese premier at Republic Day celebrations

Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe was the chief guest at the 65th Republic Day parade on Sunday, becoming the first premier from that country to grace the occasion. Abe attended the over one-and-a-half hour parade at the magnificent Rajpath which showcased social, cultural aspects and military might of the 1.2-billion strong nation. 

The Japanese PM arrived on Saturday on a three-day official visit. He has already held extensive talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh during which both leaders decided to enhance security, defence and economic cooperation between the two countries. Signifying growing bilateral defence ties, India has also invited Japan to be part of the Indo-US naval exercise later this year even as a joint working group was meeting in March to work out the modalities for supply of US-2 amphibian aircraft from Japan.

The two countries also inked as many as eight agreements, including those to promote tourism, enhance energy efficiency in telecom towers and power generation in India. Coming against the backdrop of tensions between Japan and China over a group of disputed islands.