India, Japan sigh 8 pacts of economic cooperation

India and Japan signed Saturday night eight pacts of economic cooperation on the first day of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to New Delhi, said local media reports Sunday. Half were connected with Japanese aid including soft loans and outright grants. Seventy percent of the Japanese loans will go for implementing phase-III of the Delhi Metro project. The two countries decided to make joint naval exercises a permanent feature and India invited Japan to join the Indis-U.S Malabar series of joint military exercises, said the Hindu daily. The two sides also reviewed the progress made in selling hi- tech US-2 amphibious aircraft of Japan to India. This is the first time Japan is offering to sell military planes to a foreign country since Second World War. The two sides also decided to hold political-security consultations on a regular basis to be joined by their national security chiefs and defense ministers, according to the reports.