Indian, Japanese businessmen urged to forge closure ties

New Delhi, Feb 14 (UNI) Former Japanese Prime Minister Y Mori today exhorted Japanese and Indian businessmen to forge closure ties to deepen bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

Addressing the 34th joint meeting of the India-Japan Joint Business Cooperation Committee, Mr Mori said, ''The cooperation between the two countries could be pushed to a new level by developing synergies between the Japanese hardware industry and India's expertise in software development.'' The meeting was the first between the representatives of the two countries after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Japan last year and before the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Abe in the second half of this year.

Mr Mori lauded the efforts of the Indo-Japan Business Cooperation Committee in bringing about a thaw in relations between the two countries which had cooled off after economic sanctions were imposed on India following its second round of nuclear tests in 1998.

India-Japan Business Cooperation Committee Chairman Onkar S Kanwar pointed out that the business communities of India and Japan could play a catalytic role in enhancing the IT revolution in Asia and bridge the digital divide.

''India's software expertise could effectively collaborate with Japanese excellence in hardware not only to deepen the IT network for India-Japan new age partnership but also to exploit the markets in other countries,'' he said.

Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said there is a great future for Indo-Japan economic relations as the two countries have realised the efficacy of the strategy to access the vast and growing Indian market.

Japanese Ambassador to India Yasukuni Enoki emphasised the crucial importance of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that is currently being worked upon.

''Once the agreement become fully operational, India and Japan could corner 60 per cent of Asia's GDP,'' he pointed out.

Indian Ambassador to Japan H K Singh pointed out the next round of negotiations on CEPA will be held in April this year and an agreement was expected to be thrashed out during the stipulated two-year period.

Quoting the Goldman Sachs BRICS report, FICCI Secretary General Amit Mitra said India will show the fastest growth over the next 30 and 50 years.

''Growth could be higher than five per cent over the next 30 years and close to five per cent as late as 2050 and also India's GDP will exceed Italy's in 2016, France's in 2019, Germany's in 2023 and Japan's in 2032. India was poised to become the world's third largest economy by 2032,'' he said.

UNI