Section 5 In November 2016, Indian Prime Minister visited Japan and held a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Prime Minister Abe stated that this summit meeting was a magnificent meeting that substantially advanced the “new era in Japan-India relations,” and he hoped the two countries would lead the prosperity and stability of the Indo-Pacific region as a result of coordinating the “Free and Open India and Pacific Strategy” and the “Act East” policy. Prime Minister Modi stated that he was pleased that the Global Partnership between Japan and India was steadily progressing and generating results. As shown by these statements, the summit meeting further deepened the friendship between Japan and India. At the summit meeting, the two leaders signed the Japan-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement and agreed to start construction of the High Speed Railways between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in 2018, aiming for the opening in 2023. They also agreed on the following points: establishment of the Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM), which is intended to enhance India's manufacturing industry base; the steady progress to realize 3.5 trillion yen of public and private financing to India in five years under the Japan-India Investment Promotion Partnership; progress in discussion on special investment incentives for Japan Industrial Townships (JITs); the promotion of the Japan-India Energy Partnership Initiative, which was launched on the occasion of the Japan-India Energy Dialogue and the development of a transparent and diversified Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) market, including elimination of the destination clause; progress in collaboration between public- and private-sector entities in environmentally friendly energy efficient technologies; cooperation toward dissemination of eco-friendly vehicles including hybrid vehicles; and cooperation towards conclusion of a high-quality and mutually beneficial Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement. On the day after the summit meeting, Prime Minister Modi held a meeting with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko. They reaffirmed continued cooperation concerning human resource development, technology transfer and other matters under the project for the High Speed Railways between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. They also agreed on the memorandum of cooperation concerning the establishment of the Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) in order to train 30,000 workers for manufacturing industries over 10 years. They also discussed the promotion of the Asia Africa Growth Corridor initiative, which will enhance the connectivity between Asia and Africa, under Japan-India cooperation. In January 2017, Minister Seko visited India and held meetings with important Indian government officials, including Prime Minister Modi, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry , and Vijay Rupani of , and participated in the Global Summit 2017, an investment promotion event at which top business leaders from around the world gathered (Figure III-3-5-1). During this visit, in order to realize the agreement reached in 2014 between the two countries’ leaders to double the amount of Japanese investment in India and the number of Japanese companies operating in India over five years, Japan mentioned further promotion of the project of the Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) witnessed by Minister Seko, and the Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnership (AOTS) appointed “Monodzukuri Jinzai Ambassadors” and decided on investment by JBIC in plug-and-play rental 650 factories to encourage Japanese SMEs to expand into India. In relation to this investment, under the watch of Chief Minister Rupani of Gujarat, a signing ceremony for the memorandum of understanding (MOU) was held between JBIC, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Toyota Tsusho India Pvt. Ltd. and the Gujarat Industries and Mines Department (GIDC).

Figure III-3-5-1 Meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Minister Seko at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017

Photo: METI

In addition, top officials of 25 Japanese companies contributing to the major agenda items of the Modi government, including the Make in India initiative and the High Speed Railways project, accompanied the visit and lobbied important officials for improvement of the business environment in India and made progress toward resolving challenges while demonstrating Japanese companies’ presence through participation in Minister Seko’s meetings with various cabinet members and separate meetings with cabinet ministers. Moreover, Minister Seko requested the provision of special incentive packages for companies including SMEs to participate in Japanese industrial townships (JITs) regardless of the investment size. In addition, the Japanese side proposed that Japan and India should strengthen cooperation toward making RCEP a broad, high-quality agreement under ASEAN’s leadership and that the specifics of the Asia Africa Growth Corridor initiative should be worked out and obtained Prime Minister Modi’s support.

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