India and Japan should take lead in securing peace and prosperity in India Pacific region: Hiroshi Suzuki

NEW DELHI: Speaking at the Business Session on “India-Japan@75: Realizing the ¥ 5 trillion Partnership in Next Five Years”, on December 20, 2022, Hiroshi Suzuki, Ambassador of Japan to India, said, “With India and Japan assuming the prestigious G-20 and G-7 Presidencies respectively, the two nations are at a critical juncture for further strengthening their global and strategic partnership by way of proactive engagements in trade and investment to achieve the goal of 5-trillion Yen investment in financing in the next five years”.

Ambassador Suzuki stressed that India and Japan should take the lead in securing peace and prosperity in the India Pacific region as the two countries as two great democracies shared the universal value of freedom and the guiding principle of respect of the rule of law. He further said that India Japan relations have the greatest potential of all bilateral relationships and the economic partnership is a major pillar of the bilateral relationship.

Ambassador Suzuki referred to a recent survey of Japanese companies in India, and said that majority of the Japanese companies interviewed replied that they were eyeing to expand their business or considering new investments within the next few years and had high expectations of the Indian market. This was the highest percentage among the Japanese companies interviewed in various countries. He further said, “Resilient supply chains are emerging as a key aspect of economic security and the essence of this is trusted partnership and who else can be a trusted partner for Indian companies than Japan and vice-versa”.

Ambassador Suzuki further said that the promising areas where India and Japan can work collaboratively to leverage on the strong partnership include digital technology, semi-conductor designing, energy and climate change, among other domains.  “I am confident that India Japan collaborations will come into being in many of these critical areas”, Ambassador Suzuki said.

Susumu Wakamori President, Japan Chamber of Commerce & Industry in India (JCCII) and Chairman & Managing Director, Marubeni India, in his address said that “In order to promote investment by Japanese companies in India, we need to communicate and incorporate improvement of the business environment and solution of the issues. He further said that Japan examining the prospect of establishing a fund to develop human capital and trained personnel necessary to bolster its investments in different sectors in India”.

Sachit Jain, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Vardhman Special Steels Ltd. said “India is well placed to integrate more closely into Japanese value chains for addressing global as well as domestic markets. It is felt that the next wave of investment would indeed come from Japanese SMEs”. Jain further said that the pandemic had demonstrated the need to strengthen global collaborations in climate change, energy efficiency, sustainable mobility and other areas. He further said that India and Japan together could drive a closer partnership in green manufacturing, green buildings and sustainability parameters.

Bharat Joshi, Co-Chair, CII Japan Committee & Director, Associated Container Terminals said that “Technology transfers, trade and investment between India and Japan as JVs are pivotal in achieving a 5 trillion-yen partnership”. He further said that Technology Transfer, Trade and Investment and “Tomodachi” meaning friends in Japanese, whether economic or personal, were crucial for achieving this partnership. 

The inaugural session was followed by sectoral sessions focusing on “Enhancing the technology collaboration in emerging sectors” and “Partnering for green growth for sustainable development” in which speakers representing Indian and Japanese companies presented their views.