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Japan invited to have fresh look at trade, investment
New Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kamal Nath has invited captains of Japanese trade and industry to have a fresh look at where India stands today and take a long term view of trade and investment opportunities that are on offer. While a large number of the big names in Japan have become household names in India like Nippon, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Fujitsu, Itoh, Marubeni and others, the actual inflow of Japanese investment in India is still low, indicating a considerable degree of caution. According to a press release, in all major policy pronouncements since taking office, the new Government has reaffirmed its commitment to economic reforms that stimulate growth, investment and employment. In a vast developing society administered by a democratic dispensation, it has to be ensured that economic liberalisation does not undermine equitable development and does not erode broad political support for the reforms process itself. This is precisely what our government is trying to do, the Minister said while inaugurating the 32nd Joint Meeting of India-Japan Business Cooperation Committees, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here. Close cooperation between India and Japan was a pre-requisite for making the 21st century truly the century of Asia, Kamal Nath said, adding "it is for this reason that India and Japan have jointly staked their legitimate claim along with Germany and Brazil for permanent seats in the UN Security Council". India-Japan trade amounted to four billion dollars last year, showing a growth of 18 per cent over the preceding year. But while the overall growth was good, this came after a three-year stagnancy, and also there was a marked negative balance of trade in favour of Japan. So far the full potential of bilateral economic relationship was far from being realised and a boost was clearly required, Kamal Nath said. Referring to the new Foreign Trade Policy, he said the whole effort was to push up exports by a quantum jump and expressed the hope that India's total exports would cross 75 billion dollars this year (2004-2005) as against 63 billion dollars last year. Stating that India is particularly eager to get investment in infrastructure, Kamal Nath invited the Japanese to invest in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which would include Bio-Technology Parks and Free Trade and Warehousing Zones as well and for which a bill would be introduced in Parliament before the end of this year. A
50-member Japanese delegation led by N. Ohashi, Chairman, India-Japan
BCC and Chairman, Mitsui Co. participated in the meeting, along with Ashok
Jha, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Kenji
Yoshizawa, Advisor, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. |
