Japan has yet to explore the potential of its economic relations with India, even though the strategic importance of Tokyo-New Delhi ties has repeatedly been emphasized, Indian scholars and experts told a recent symposium in Tokyo.

A Japan-India economic partnership pact — on which a broad agreement was reached in October — will hopefully serve as the starting point for bolstering the bilateral ties, they said.

The scholars and researchers from Indian universities and think tanks were speaking at the Jan. 20 symposium organized by the Keizai Koho Center under the theme, "Toward an expanded Japan-India economic relationship." Go Yamada, a senior economist at the Japan Center for Economic Research, served as moderator of the discussion.