Japan calls for strategic business partnership with India

Ahmedabad, Nov 20 (UNI) Urging the need to further strenghthen Indo-Japan relationships, Japanese ambassador to India Yasukuni Enoki today said the Indian Prime Minister's expected visit to his nation next month will provide a boost in this direction.

''We are expecting Indian Prime Minister to visit Japan next month. This visit is very important for us to further cement Japan-India relations,'' Mr Enoki said while speaking at a seminar ''Doing Business with Japan'' organised by the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) here today.

Saying that the two countries should come together in a strategic partnership, Mr Enoki said Japan considers India as one of the three major industrial hubs apart from China and itself. ''We have no doubt that sooner or later, India's GDP would almost equal that of the other two,'' Mr Enoki said.

The strategic partnership, which Mr Enoki described as a ''special economic partnership'', will usher in economic integration of the whole of East Asia.

India is the largest recepient of Japanese aid in offshore development and no Japanese company can ignore India with a 1.1-billion population market, Mr Enoki said.

He, however, lamented that though India is number one in IT and software technology, it is lagging far behind in the manufacturing sector. ''No country can ever think of becoming an economic superpower without its manufacturing industry reigning supreme,'' Mr Enoki said.

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