Indo-Japanese biotech trade on the upswing: JETRO

Bangalore, June 7 (UNI) Policy changes in Japan have paved the way for increased bilateral tie-ups, collaborations and trade, Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) Director General Kazumasa Kuboki said here today.

''Our government's Biotechnology Scheme and the state-led industrialisation of biotechnology is reaching a major era of growth. Now we can expect more collaborations between the companies in India and Japan,'' he said, speaking to newspersons here to announce the holding of 'Biolink Forum 2007', an international biotech cluster networking and symposium event, to be held in Yokohama in Japan from September 19 to 21.

He said some of the major India-based biotech companies had already entered Japan. Japanese biotech majors were also eyeing the highly potential Indian market and one such major player, Eizai, was setting up a plant in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to market its Internet Protocol based products in the Indian market.

''Outsourcing of biotech research and other activities to India are likely as major players are coming to Japan while Japanese companies are looking towards India, whose technical practices and achievements are well-known in our country'' he said.

He said JETRO had supported 306 international companies to enter the Japanese market and out of this 16 were India-based. ''Two more big players are coming in shortly,'' he said without disclosing the names.

Biolink Forum Project Manager Ryoko Kawai said the forum provides an opportunities for representatives from biotech clusters in Japan and abroad to come together for symposiums, networking and one-on-one business talks. Last year's event held in Osaka attracted close to 400 attendees.

''We had only one Indian company coming to the Forum last year. We expect more numbers this time. I have come here to invite a biotech expert to deliver a keynote address,'' she said.

Ms Kawai said international alliances had become important keyelement of the success in biotechnology research and business in Japan. Biotechnology sectors, both in India and Japan, would emerge as the most suitable arena for forging partnerships, she added.

UNI