IJBC to launch series of events in 2022 to celebrate 70th anniversary of India-Japan diplomatic relations

Sanjeev K Ahuja On Nov 22, 2021

PUNE (Maharashtra) INDIA: Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC), the organizer of the annual cultural and business fest Konnichiwa Pune, will celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the India-Japan diplomatic relations in the year 2022 and launch a series of events throughout the year.

Asian Community News (ACN) Network was the Online Media Partner for the Konnichiwa Pune 2021.

“Next year Konnichiwa Pune will come out bigger and better. We are going to start event series which will celebrate India-Japan diplomatic relations in a special year when we are completing 70 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. We must celebrate it with a lot of diversity and different topics, and challenges. We will discuss them the entire year,” said Siddharth Deshmukh, President of Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC) during his closing remarks on the final day of the Konnichiwa Pune 2021 event on Sunday, the 21^st November in Pune.

In its ongoing efforts to boost investment, promote business and cultural exchange between India and Japan, the Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC) and Consulate-General of Japan in Mumbai together organized the three-day virtual cultural and business fest – Konnichiwa Pune 2021 on November 19-21. This was the 3^rd event in the annual series of the Konnichiwa Pune events.

Masahide Sato, Deputy Consul-General, Consulate-General of Japan in Mumbai.

Earlier in his address, Masahide Sato, Chief Consul, Consulate-General of Japan in Mumbai, also said that the year 2022 was a very significant year not only from the point of view of Indo-Japan’s diplomatic relations completing 70 years but also because India is going to celebrate 75 years of its Independence.

He was all praise for the Konnichiwa Pune event and its organizers for organizing this great event, which is supported by the Consulate-General of Japan in Mumbai since 2018.

Masahide Sato said this umbrella platform jointly offered by IJBC and the Consulate-General of Japan in Mumbai would further strengthen the friendship between the two countries.

Thanking the IJBC members for their contributions in holding the online festival, Sato said the event was a great opportunity for everyone to experience both the Indian and Japanese cultures together.

The Indo-Japanese relations with a long history rooted in spiritual affinity have steadily deepened over the years particularly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to Japan in the year 2014.

The Act East Forum established in 2017 further aims to provide a platform for India-Japan collaboration under the rubric of India’s Act East Policy and Japan’s ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific Vision.’

Japan, a key partner in India’s economic transformation, has been increasing its stakes in India due to the country’s large and growing market and its resources. The bilateral trade between Japan and India for FY 2019-20 had stood at close to $12 billion.

Japan, now ranking fifth among the major investors in India, has invested around $35 billion mainly in automobile, electrical equipment, telecommunications, chemical, financial and pharmaceutical sectors.

“India and Japan are in a wonderful partnership. It’s moving at a certain pace. We have to take our ambition graded and in a phased manner,” said, Sanjay Kumar Verma, Indian Ambassador to Japan. “The most important part of doing business at the moment is to understand each other’s culture of doing business,” he added.

“The keyword for India-Japan interactions, partnerships should be innovation. The innovation is not only in technology. innovation could also be in the social sector, the way we amend our approach towards each other or to device new business tactics when we interact with each other,” Verma further opined.

Sidharth Deshmukh, IJBC President, and Abhishek Choudhury, Vice President Industrial Relations-IJBC said the number of Japanese companies registered in India has increased 10.0 percent since 2016 with the number reaching 1455 in 2020. These companies are having close to 5000 establishments across various Indian cities.

The highlights of Konnichiwa Pune, according to the organizers of the online fest, included Indo-Japanese fusion in the form of cultural shows, food workshops, education fairs, panel discussions, and talk shows besides business sessions.

Asian Community News (ACN) Network was the Online Media Partner for the Konnichiwa Pune 2021 and promoted the event with a wide reportage involving a series of news articles.