India and Japan have had cultural ties since ancient times, and their relationship is further strengthened through economic cooperation in modern times, according to Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of Japan to India.
Delivering a talk on ‘Japan and India relationship’ at Andhra University here on Tuesday, he said Japan was a friend and active partner in India’s exciting growth story. “Japan has got the tradition of manufacturing and we would now like to explore the options in India,” he said.
“Our ties have improved in the past four years and it has become a tradition that the Prime Minister of India and Japan visit the respective countries at least once a year. Last year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited India and Prime Minister Modi will be visiting Japan this year,” he said.
Investments doubled
According to him, since 2014 the FDI of Japanese companies in India has doubled. “In 2006 the number of Japanese companies in India was 267 and in 2017 it has gone up to 1369 and 50 per cent is in the manufacturing sector,” he said.
The investment is not only on the industrial front, “we have given loans to the tune of 384 billion yen under the ODA programmes.”
Hiramatsu said, “Apart from the upcoming Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed bullet train project, we are working on the Mumbai-Delhi industrial corridor and the Chennai-Bengaluru corridor.”
Both the countries are also working on issues concerning peace in the India-Pacific region, terrorism, cyber security, peaceful civilian nuclear projects, defence and global warming and climate change.