TOKYO - JAPAN urged India to do more as part of global efforts to combat climate change when the foreign ministers from the two Asian powers met on Friday, a Japanese official said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and his Indian counterpart, Mr SM Krishna, held talks in Tokyo during Mr Krishna's four-day visit.

Among the other issues on the table were Myanmar, North Korea and piracy off the Somali coast, as well as bilateral economic cooperation, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of government policy.

Japan is eager to get India's cooperation on persuading industrialised and the emerging countries to smooth out differences over how to fight global warming, she said.

India and Japan signed an agreement on economic cooperation in October during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The deal includes Japan's 450 billion yen (S$6.8 billion) loan for a major freight railway project connecting Mumbai and the capital, New Delhi.

Economic ties between Asia's No. 1 and No. 3 economies have been growing steadily in recent years.

They plan to further boost India's economic development in the area of information technology. Among the projects is the New Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, an area designed to be a manufacturing and technological centre for India.

Japan's direct investment in India reached 178 billion yen last year, tripling from the previous year's nearly 60 billion yen, according to the Japanese government.

Mr Krishna, who arrived in Tokyo late on Thursday, was also set to meet Prime Minister Taro Aso on Friday. He meets Indians living in Japan on Saturday, and leaves on Sunday.