Fukuda, Singh eye FTA deal by mid-'08

SINGAPORE (Kyodo) Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed in talks Wednesday to aim for a comprehensive free-trade agreement by mid-2008, a Japanese official said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda talk in Singapore on the sidelines of a regional summit Wednesday. KYODO PHOTO

Fukuda, who took office in September, was also quoted as telling Singh that "it is essential for major (greenhouse gas) emitters, including India, to take part responsibly" in a post-2012 international framework on fighting global warming. But Singh did not respond, the official said.

Japan, which will host the Group of Eight major nations' summit next year, is eager to take the lead in drawing up a post-Kyoto Protocol framework by persuading top emitters, including the United States, China and India, to join.

Meeting in Singapore on the sidelines of a regional summit, Fukuda invited Singh to visit Japan next year, and the Indian leader said he will be looking forward to the trip.

On international affairs, Singh noted that the antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan are extremely important to India, and Fukuda reassured him that he would do his best to resume Japan's naval refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, which was supporting U.S.-led coalition vessels taking part in the operations.

Japan's refueling mission ended after the law that authorize it expired Nov. 1. The ruling and opposition camps are now tussling in the Diet over the passage of a new law to resume the mission.

In a visit to India in August, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Singh adopted a "road map" for bringing about the strategic and global partnership they agreed on last December in Tokyo.