$1 bn Japanese aid for 2 projects

NEW DELHI, AUG 24: Japan's keenness to drastically step up business relations with India was also evident in Japanese Prime Minister Yoshi...

NEW DELHI, AUG 24: Japan’s keenness to drastically step up business relations with India was also evident in Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori’s address at a meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Thursday when he announced a visit by an economic mission headed by the chairman of the Japan Federation of Economic Organisations and the president of the Japan-India Business Cooperative Committee to India in October.

Mori said Japan had prepared a package of measures to spend $ 15 billion over the next five years to achieve the goals of elimination of the digital divide. He said Japan would take a lead in promoting the use of IT in developing countries, especially in Asia.

Referring to the implementation of economic measures against India, following the nuclear tests, Mori said these measures were not the `economic sanctions’ as economic activities in the private sector between the two countries had been going on.

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Mori proposed a three-pronged strategy to boost bilateral business relations between the two countries in information technology sector, including training of IT professionals in Japanese language, holding an Indo-Japanese summit and organising frequent symposiums.

Mori said Japan intended to relax visa rules for Indian IT engineers as part of a wide-ranging initiative to fuel the IT revolution by marrying Indian talent and Japan’s immense financial and industrial resources.

The purpose of his visit to Bangalore was to see the current situation of India’s IT industry and send a strong message of cooperation with India in this field.

"We cannot talk about the international economy without referring to India," Mori said. He noted that India’s strong determination on the ongoing economic reforms and performance symbolised by the remarkable development in the field of IT.

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Referring to the growth of Indo-Japanese economic relations, he said Japan’s direct investment to India since 1991 ranked third among the major countries and nearly 200 Japanese companies had set up their offices in India.

Though the amount of trade and investment between the two countries was not big enough, there were good prospects for the Indo-Japanese economic relation due to India’s economic reform process and recovery of Japan’s economy, he added.

The interactions would be beneficial not only to solve the traditional problems relating to trade and investment, but also to find new fields of cooperation including information technology, he added.

Mori support for UN seat

MUMBAI: Japan has, for the first time, officially extended support to India’s membership at the United Nations Security Council.

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"We are in the same boat. We wish to row the boat further strongly forward for early realisation of the UN reforms, maintaining our close co-operation," Prime Minister Mori said at the Ficci meeting.