Japan's Abe looks to seal ties with India

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched top-level talks in India on Wednesday after promising a major fillip for trade and ties between the two Asian countries.

India and Japan are working to seal a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement for 2008, and Abe has brought along almost 200 business officials with billions of dollars of investment projects in the pipeline.

With China rising, Tokyo is pushing ahead with a strategic partnership in New Delhi which aims to bolster political, diplomatic, trade and cultural relations.

Abe was to meet Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh with a swathe of projects on the table. They include a 100-billion-dollar industrial corridor and freight link from the capital to Mumbai, India's financial hub, and an Arabian Sea port with funding estimated at an unconfirmed 30 billion dollars.

The Japanese premier was also to address India's parliament, the first foreign head of government to do so since US president Bill Clinton in 2000.

Abe would set out his vision of a four-way strategic and economic alliance with Indian, Australia and the United States, a senior aide said.