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The Japan Times Thursday, November 15, 2012 7
Indian prime minister’s visit
Yasuo FukudaPRESIDENT, JAPAN-INDIA PARlIAmENTARY FRIENDShIP lEAGUE, FORmER PRImE mINISTER OF JAPAN
On behalf of the Japan-India Parliamentary Friendship league, I would like to extend our hospitality and warm welcome to Prime minister Dr. manmohan Singh of India on the occasion of this visit to Japan.
Japan and India, which share the value of democracy, human rights and governance by laws, have a friendly relationship founded on a long history of exchanges. In particular, in recent years the Japan-India Strategic and Global Partnership has been strengthened by frequent and active exchanges. leaders of each country have made annual visits since 2005. It is with great pleasure that I make note of the recent welcoming of Dr. Singh by the Japanese government as proof of the close relations between the two countries.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between the two countries, and there were various joint symposiums and exchanges this
year. In April, the two countries held the first bilateral economic talk at the ministerial level and the sixth talk between the two countries’ foreign ministers. Also, there was the second talk on diplomacy and security, the first discussion on cyber issues and two three-way discussions among Japan, India and the U.S. In June, Japan’s maritime Self-Defense Force and India’s Navy conducted their first-ever joint drill.
Joint events are held not only in politics, security and economy, but also at the civilian level. many events cerebrating the 60th anniversary were held in both countries, promoting exchanges at the individual level. As the Japan-India relationship is deepening on many levels, it is very timely that Japan welcomes Dr. Singh.
Dr. Singh has come to Japan as India’s prime minister four times. he has made great contributions to deepening the bilateral relationship. It is my firm belief that Dr. Singh’s arrival in Japan will promote the further strengthening of bilateral relations between Japan and India.
may I take this opportunity to reiterate my sincerest welcome to Dr. Singh and to send my best wishes for the continued development of our friendly relations.
Continued development of friendly relations
Deepa Gopalan WadhwaAmbASSADOR OF INDIA
I am happy to contribute to the special supplement brought out by The Japan Times on the occasion of the visit of Prime minister of India dr. manmohan singh to Japan for the annual bilateral Japan-India Prime minister-level sum-mit.
The friendship between In-dia and Japan commenced its long journey some 15 centuries ago with the arrival of buddha’s gentle message of love, compas-sion and universal brotherhood from India. The visit of the In-dian buddhist monk bodhisena a thousand years ago to be pres-ent at the consecration of the daibutsu at the Todaiji Temple in Nara, the link between Goa and Kagoshima established by st. Francis Xavier, the open-ing of the Japanese Consulate in bombay (mumbai) in 1896, the founding of the Japan-India
association in 1903, Gurudev rabindranath Tagore’s associa-tion with okakura Tenshin and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two coun-tries in 1952 are some of the memorable landmarks in the history of our relations.
Today, India-Japan relations stand poised at an inflection point. We are celebrating 60 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year. These 60 years have been almost indisputably free of any histori-cal or ideological baggage. That we share a cultural and spiritual connection through buddhism provides us a shared perception of values. Layered over this is our modern-day identity as deeply committed democracies — India the largest in asia and the world, and Japan the oldest in asia. The past 60 years have also seen Ja-pan emerge as reliable partner in India’s development efforts. The maruti-suzuki tieup revolution-ized industrial technology and management concepts in India and anticipated our economic reform. since the 1991 opening up of the Indian economy, sev-
eral Japanese companies have established offices and joint ventures, a trend which is on the rise.
The last decade, particularly the period since the establish-ment of the India-Japan strate-gic and Global Partnership in 2006, has seen unprecedented progress in our economic and strategic engagement. We have in place a multi-layered archi-tecture for dialogue that includes the annual Prime ministerial-lev-el summit meetings, and meet-ings between foreign, defense and trade ministers and a high-level energy dialogue chaired by the deputy chairman of the plan-ning commission. We also have talks at the level of secretaries of foreign affairs, defense, eco-nomic affairs, commerce, etc. all these have played an important role in enhancing mutual un-derstanding and identifying new areas of cooperation. Their peri-odic meetings ensure we main-tain focus on our core objective of deepening and strengthening our relations. and the results are there to see.
The significance of the historic comprehensive economic part-nership agreement (CePa) that entered into force a year ago in august is one such example of a comprehensive agreement that covers all important areas in bilateral economic discourse, such as trade in goods and ser-vices, investments, intellectual property rights and movement of natural persons. The CePa will eliminate tariffs on about 94 percent of goods that are traded between India and Japan over a period of 10 years. The effects of the CePa are already evident and bilateral trade in the past year has increased by 27 percent to $18.59 billion. There is good reason to believe that this trend will continue and help realize
the true potential of the CePa.Japan has emerged as the
largest bilateral donor to India and Japanese official develop-ment assistance (oda) has been consistently supportive of India’s efforts for accelerated economic development, particularly in pri-ority areas such as infrastructure. We are currently in the process of implementing two flagship projects of India-Japan coopera-tion, namely, the Western dedi-cated Freight Corridor and the delhi-mumbai Industrial Cor-ridor, which combined would have the potential to transform India. India will also be investing $1 trillion in infrastructure devel-opment in the next five-year plan period. Japanese companies will find a welcoming environment for their investments in the op-portunities provided by these projects. This trend is already discernible as there are over 100 new companies opening shop in India annually.
There is in India strong ad-
miration for Japan’s postwar economic reconstruction and emergence as a major economic power, as well as a groundswell of good will across the population and political parties. The Indian government and its people were glad to be of assistance during the triple disaster that struck Japan in march 2011 by providing relief supplies during the very challeng-ing period. In my short stay in Japan, I have also perceived that there is popular and bipartisan support in Japan for enhanced relations with India.
With the will of our two peo-ples and the determination of our governments to expand ties, the forthcoming annual India-Japan summit meeting between Prime minister manmohan singh and Prime minister yo-shihiko Noda will certainly im-part further momentum to our close and excellent relations by enhancing cooperation in the political and strategic spheres and concretizing interactions for greater economic engagement.
Adding momentum to enhancing ties
Yoshiro moriChAIRmAN, JAPAN-INDIA ASSOCIATION, FORmER PRImE mINISTER OF JAPAN
on behalf of the Japan-In-dia associa-tion, which has worked for 109 years for the benefit of Ja-pan-India rela-tions, I extend our most heartfelt welcome to h.e. dr. manmohan singh, prime minister of India, who will be in Japan for four days from today.
The two countries began their close relationship through bud-dhism and expanded it via dip-lomatic, economic and cultural exchanges. as then prime min-ister of Japan, I inaugurated the Japan-India Global Partnership with then Prime minister a.b. vajpayee in august 2000, and since then the bilateral relation-
ship has not only developed for mutual benefit but also evolved in cooperation in global issues such as reform of the u.N. se-curity Council. Now, the prime ministers of the two countries meet every year, alternating be-tween New delhi and Tokyo, with both countries labeling the bilateral relationship as a strate-gic global partnership.
dr. singh saved India from a foreign currency crisis in the early 1990s when he was the fi-nance minister, beginning eco-nomic reforms and laying the foundation for “the new India,” which is now a large, emerging economy. dr. singh expressed great gratitude to Japan for swiftly providing financial aid to India at the time of the foreign currency crisis, as well as con-tributing to making India what it is now through official devel-opment assistance (oda) since 1958. We now enjoy an extreme-ly friendly bilateral relationship, and I believe we owe it to dr.
singh’s consistently amicable feelings toward Japan.
This year marks the 60th an-niversary since Japan and India established the diplomatic rela-tionship. The governments and private sectors of both countries have held events celebrating the amicable bilateral ties. I believe dr. singh’s visit to Japan this time will take the strategic glob-al partnership to a higher level and strongly show our friendly bilateral relationship to nation-als of the two countries and the world.
The Japan-India association will collaborate with the Inter-national Friendship exchange Council and the Japan-India Par-liamentary Friendship League to organize a conference in which dr. singh will deliver a message to Japanese nationals.
I hope for much to be achieved during dr. singh’s visit to Japan this time and for contin-ued development of the bilateral relationship in the future.
‘The new India’ is in good hands
Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh
Key partnership: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda attend a joint press conference in New Delhi on Dec. 28. CAbINET PUblIC RElATIONS OFFICE
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8 The Japan Times Thursday, November 15, 2012
Indian prime minister’s visit
Masami IijimaCHAIRMAN, JAPAN-INDIA BUSINESS COOPERATION COMMITTEE
On behalf of the Japan-India Business Cooperation Committee (JIBCC), it is my honor to extend my sincerest welcome to H.E. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the occasion of his visit to Japan.
We would like to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Japan-India diplomatic relations this year, which is based on our long-standing mutual understanding and friendship.
When Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda visited India in December 2011, both countries’ prime ministers agreed upon a very comprehensive joint statement
regarding the Vision for the Enhancement of the Japan-India Strategic and Global Partnership. According to the Embassy of Japan, the number of Japanese companies in India reached 926 as of Oct. 1 this year and will exceed 1,000 by the middle of 2013. In these ways, there has been conspicuous growth and progress, especially in the economic relationship between India and Japan, in terms of both trade and investment over the past few years. The relationship, however, has yet to reach a level that is commensurate with the scale of the Indian and Japanese economies, and further steps should be taken.
Fortunately, we recognize that our relationship has shifted from the stage of discussion to the stage of materialization based on deep mutual understanding and vibrant contact in both private and public sectors. From an industry perspective, we
earnestly hope that the Japan-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (JICEPA) will be broadly utilized to strengthen the economic relationship further between our countries. After introduction of the JICEPA in August 2011, the trade volume between the two countries significantly increased, and it has proved to be a vital agreement. Last October, the first Meeting of the JICEPA Sub-Committee on Improvement of the Business Environment was held by government officials from both countries. We welcome and emphasize the importance of such discussions, which will lead to the improvement of the business environment for the benefit of existing and potential investors. The world economy continues to face uncertainty; however, there is no doubt that our joint efforts will be a powerful driving force not only for both nations but also for the rest
of the world, in particular for Asian counties as well.
Meanwhile, on Dec. 1, the grand finale of the 60th Anniversary of Japan-India Diplomatic Relations, featuring beautiful fireworks and a projection mapping event, is scheduled to be held at the India Gate in New Delhi. The members of the JIBCC have the honor of supporting this grand finale, and we look forward to enjoying such a memorable time together with our friends in India.
The JIBCC would like to work toward establishing stronger Japan-India relationships at the interpersonal level through a strong commitment to further economic exchange.
Finally, in addition to celebrating the arrival of Dr. Singh to Japan, I would like to express my wishes for the further continued development of our two countries.
Bilateral economic relationship has shifted from discussion to materialization
Takashi ShodaCHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON SOUTH ASIA, KEIDANREN
on behalf of Keidanren, I would like to extend our warm welcome to h.e. man-mohan singh, prime minister of India.
The India-Japan economic ties have become one of the most vital and promising rela-tions in asia since the Japan-India Comprehensive eco-nomic Partnership agreement (JICePa) went into effect in au-gust 2011. our bilateral trade and investment have achieved remarkable growth. The India-Japan trade totalled about ¥1.3 trillion in 2010 and over ¥1.4 trillion in 2011, an increase of over 10 percent in a year. In 2011, Japan’s foreign direct in-vestment (FdI) to India has
amounted to ¥181 billion. It is a good time for the busi-
ness sectors of the two countries to build up the momentum and step up efforts to further expand and strengthen India-Japan business cooperation as the two countries celebrate the 60th an-niversary of diplomatic rela-tionship this year. Keidanren is proud to have served as the secretariat for the Japan-India business Leaders Forum (JIbLF) four times in the past, which led to the conclusion of the JICePa and the bilateral social security agreement, as well as India’s opening its market for multiple brand retailers. It must also be remembered that in this com-memorative year the Confed-eration of Indian Industry and Keidanren organized the Japan India business summit in may to further seek business oppor-tunities between the two coun-tries. Taking this opportunity of h.e. singh’s visit to Japan, Keidanren will host the fifth
JIbLF on Nov. 16 to enhance our essential bilateral economic re-lationship.
In order to maintain and ac-celerate the strong, sustainable economic growth, it is critical for India to upgrade its infra-structure. Japan and India are working together on joint ini-tiatives for infrastructure de-velopment, such as the delhi-mumbai Industrial Corridor (dmIC) Project and the south India core nodal development. The Japanese business com-munity is pleased to continue to support these collaborations through public-private partner-ships.
Last but not least, on behalf of Keidanren, I wish to express our deep gratitude to h.e. singh for his coming to Japan on this occasion. I sincerely hope that his visit will be fruitful and re-warding and help to further deepen the friendship and partnership between India and Japan.
Helping to enhance our essential economic ties
Bollywood Dance Troupe tour•Nov. 25 to 29
The bollywood dance Troupe will tour Japan from okinawa to Tokyo, performing hit songs from Indian films from the 1950s to today. masani Penaz doli is the singer, acidwalla Nawaz yezdi is the manager and coordina-tor and vikramjeet singh is the sound technician. They will be accompanied by nine dancers.
The troupe will perform at the National Theater okinawa on Nov. 25, the Niigata Prefectural hall on Nov. 27, the Fukushima Cultural Center on Nov. 28 and the embassy of India in Tokyo on Nov. 29.
India Fair at Isetan depart-ment store in Shinjuku, Tokyo•dec. 12 to 17
The fair will aim to show the modern side of India, which is often overshadowed by the long history of India. Goods for sale include clothes and other fashion items designed and pro-duced by Indian designers. Tra-ditional aspects, such as antique jewelry provided by Gem Palace Jaipur, will also be introduced at the fair so that Japanese visitors will be able to learn about the heritage, craftsmanship and his-tory of Indian jewelry.
Exhibition of Pt. Konin Omi-ya’s Brami Script Writing•dec. 3 to 7, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (opens 2 p.m. on the first day and closes at 4:30 p.m. on the last day.)
The exhibition of the lan-guage, which came from an-cient India and was developed uniquely in Japan, will take place at ICC Gallery, embassy of India, in Tokyo. The organizer is sittan-zou research society, myogyouji Temple.
Dancing of the Lives on Mother Earth — A Creative Integration of Indian Classi-cal Dances•dec. 14, 6:30 p.m.
virtuoso performances of Kathak, bharatanatyam and odissi, commemorating the 60th anniversary of Japan-India diplomatic relations will be held at Nakano sunplaza in Nakano Ward, Tokyo.
The event is being orga-nized by the min-on Concert association.
Events related to the 60th year of India-Japan diplomatic relations
Culture: As part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the India-Japan diplomatic relationship, Kathak, one of the eight forms of Indian classical dance, originating from Uttar Pradesh, is performed by Monisa Nayak (center) and her group at the India Cultural Center Auditorium, Embassy of India, on June 22. EMBASSY OF INDIA
Innovation and technology: The Gujarat Solar Park is being constructed across a desolate desert in Gujarat, western India, accounting for 214 megawatts of photovoltaic solar capacity, making it one of the world’s largest solar fields. The Nehru Science Centre (left), started in 1977, is named after India’s first prime minister and is the country’s largest interactive science museum and education center, located in Worli, Mumbai. EMBASSY OF INDIA
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The Japan Times Thursday, November 15, 2012 9
Indian prime minister’s visit
Ryuko HiraHonoRaRy PResident, indian CHambeR of CommeRCe and industRy JaPan
The world has witnessed the presence of great leaders like shigeru yoshida, Nobusuke Ki-shi, sun yat-sen, Jawaharlal Neh-ru, John F. Ken-nedy, Nelson mandela and many other highly accomplished leaders.
but never has there been a statesman like dr. manmohan singh, who has been loved and revered equally at home in India and by all corners of the world. almost every leader of the world has visited India and experienced the satisfaction of the true friend-ship and sincerity of his good will.
history will write dr. man-mohan singh as a “man without enemies.” even China or Paki-stan, who have had historical issues with India, have made great progress with Prime min-ister singh’s policy of “India is a friend to all nations.”
u.s. President barack obama, leader of the world’s greatest na-tion, upon his visit to India said “Prime minister singh is my guru.” Guru is often defined in english as a master for a disciple or a teacher for a student, but the true meaning of “gu” is darkness and “ru” is remover.
remover of darkness, illu-sion and ignorance is the best description for Prime minister singh, as he has established irre-versible social and economic re-forms that have given the world a new role model to overcome the quagmire of poverty, by re-moving people’s ignorance by providing knowledge-based edu-cation, and removing the illusion of fate by empowering hundreds of millions of his fellow country-
men with unprecedented oppor-tunities to work hard and build India’s infrastructure of roads, railways and ports.
In 2006, Japan honored Prime minister singh, inviting him to address all members of the diet, where he said: “each time I visit Japan I am truly inspired by your progress and touched by your generosity. I will never forget my visit there in 1992. It was my first bilateral visit as India’s finance minister. I had come to express our gratitude for Japan’s help in dealing with an unprecedented economic crisis in 1991. This crisis gave us an opportunity to break out of an old mold and embark on a new path to progress through an open economy ready to compete in a globalizing world. We looked toward Japan then to learn the vir-tues of resilience and dedication and how to create opportunity out of adversity. Today, I return to Japan as the Prime minister of a new India. as a result of wide-ranging economic reforms initiat-ed in the early 1990s. India’s econ-omy has acquired the resilience to accept the challenge and op-portunity provided by economic globalization and the emergence of a multi-polar world.”
on behalf of all members of the Indian Chamber of Com-merce and Industry Japan (ICCJ) and the Indian merchants associ-ation of yokohama (Imay), I am honored and privileged to wel-come India’s Prime minister h.e. dr. manmohan singh to Japan.
In this 92nd year of the found-ing of ICCJ/Imay, we take this opportunity to thank our prime minister for providing every as-sistance and care to we overseas Indians in Japan.
We heartily welcome our prime minister and pray for the fulfillment of bilateral aspirations.
may your excellency’s visit be happy, memorable and most re-warding.
dr. singh improves indians’ lives through fundamental reforms
Tradition: Commemorating the 60th anniversary of India-Japan diplomatic relations, various events, such as the demonstration of the Indian martial art form Kalaripayattu on Sept. 24 and the performance of the Indian folk dance Purulia Chhau (top) on Oct. 26, have taken place at the India Cultural Centre Auditorium at the Embassy of India in Tokyo. india CultuRal CentRe, embassy of india
yog KapooroWneR, indian RestauRant CHain samRat
dr. manmohan singh, the architect of india’s first wave of market-oriented reforms in the 1990s, brought innovation to india.
finally, the government is taking steps in the right directions; the reforms have come at a time when investor sentiment is down the drain.
speaking to ministers and advisers in new delhi, dr. singh while he talked about surviving flagging economic growth, improving the investment climate and boosting public finances in india, he gave the green light to a foreign supermarket chain to enter the country as an economic reform. the government of dr. singh has taken many decisions to bolster economic growth and make india a more attractive destination for the global players for foreign investment .
the indian government also relaxed investment rules in the aviation sector to allow foreign airlines for the first time.
dr. singh’s accomplishments are extraordinary as the india that existed when he took office in 1991 was an inefficient, centrally planned economy and struggling to redistribute the country’s wealth to combat poverty. twenty years later, india boasts a globalized economy with a dynamic business culture. today, india competes on its own terms and pulls more than 10 million people out of poverty every year under the leadership of dr. singh. He has done the most to make this possible, clearly determined to consolidate his legacy after a spot of financial crisis. india and the world will watch him with hope for peace and prosperity.
Welcome to the ‘innovator’ of India(advertisement)
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