Japan and India agreed Friday to launch a bilateral currency swap arrangement in the spring in which the two countries will provide up to $6 billion in total to stem a financial crisis, 'KYODO' news agency quoted Japanese officials as saying. Visiting Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga and his Indian counterpart Palaniappan Chidambaram confirmed that Tokyo and New Delhi will soon conclude a pact under which they will contribute up to $3 billion each out of their foreign-currency reserves to keep the yen or rupee from plunging in value in the event of speculative attacks. The bilateral currency swap accord will come into effect with the approval of the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of India, they said. The two countries reached a basic agreement last August to conclude the pact during a summit meeting between then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh. Nukaga and Chidambaram also agreed that the two countries will hold working-level talks twice a year to examine each other's macroeconomic conditions, according to the officials.
