Manmohan Singh leaves for Malaysia

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday left for Malayasia on a three-nation Asia tour ending his ‘historic’ visit to Japan, that ensured commitments from his counterpart for strengthening bilateal relations.

India and Japan have agreed to speed up negotiations on a civil nuclear deal and on other issues to take their strategic partnership to new heights.

A beaming PM said the “sky is the limit” for developing Japan-India relations.

He said the Japan visit was a “historic achievement”.

India and Japan announced firming up of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which will open trade between the two nations and slashing of taxes upto 94 per cent over the next decade.

Since his arrival in Japan on Sunday, the PM had busy schedules, which included talks with his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan, besides leaders from business and politics as they discussed ways to further improve bilateral ties.

The PM, accompanied by wife Gursharan Kaur, also had an audience with the Emperor and Empress of Japan.

“The tradition of regular high level dialogue is the hallmark of the India-Japan Strategic and Global Partnership. Our annual summits have set the pace and direction of this partnership, which rests on the firm foundation of shared values of democracy, rule of law and respect for fundamental human freedoms,” Singh said in a statement.

After spending three days in Kuala Lumpur, Singh will leave for Hanoi on the last leg of the tour and is expected to have talks with the Chinese premier on the sidelines.