New Delhi, April 28: The newly-appointed Ambassador of Japan to India, Akitaka Saiki, called on Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram here on Thursday to discuss bilateral issues, the tsunami devastation and the nuclear power plant crises.
Ambassador Saiki said he hoped that there would be good programmes to celebrate the completion of 60 years of diplomatic relations with India.
“I discussed wide range of issues including the latest situation in Japan regarding tsunami and nuclear power station-related issues. We also discussed bilateral relationship. Next year, as you mentioned, we are going to celebrate 60th anniversary of Japan-India diplomatic relationship,” Ambassador Saiki told reporters after the meeting.
“So, we are hoping that Indian government and Japanese government together with business community will be able to come up with good programmes,” he added.
An estimated 13,000 people lost their lives in the tsunami that hit Japan last month. The
India had sent a 46-strong team of the National Disaster Response Force for rescue and relief operations on March 28. The team returned to India on April 8.
India was also the first country that sent an aircraft laden with blankets and other relief materials to Tokyo.
Japan had been devastated by a tsunami on March 11, triggered by a massive earthquake measuring around 9.0 on the Richter scale
—-Agencies