Japan will cooperate in building AP capital: Abe tells Naidu

Hyderabad, Nov 28: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who promised his country's cooperation to the State in building a world-class capital city.

"Japan will extend full cooperation to the new state of Andhra Pradesh in its development and also in building the capital city," Naidu's office quoted Abe as saying during the meeting in Tokyo.

Abe said the meeting will strengthen bilateral ties between Japan and Indian and open new vistas for both the countries in strategic and global partnership. In a short span of time, he noted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Naidu visited the country, seeking its cooperation for building smart cities and in improving bilateral ties.

"We are hopeful of improving and strengthening our relations with India and Andhra Pradesh in various sectors like trade and commerce, infrastructure, technology, agriculture, automobiles, etc," Abe was quoted as saying.

The Chief Minister invited Abe to Andhra Pradesh as part of his visit to India in January, and also handed over "Tirupati Prasadam" and presented a memento to him. Indian ambassador to Japan Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, Ministers Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and P Narayana, MPs Galla Jayadev and C M Ramesh, AP special representative in Delhi K Ramamohan Rao, advisor (communications) Dr Parakala Prabhakar and Principal Secretary Satish Chandra were among those who were present at the meeting.

Earlier, Naidu met senior officials of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, who told him: "We can act like a bridge between Japanese companies and your state.

The Chief Minister asked SMBC to advise him on the structure of financial inflows into Andhra Pradesh.

"We will set up an office to clear Japanese investments. This will have an escort officer who will ensure that companies get faster clearances. This office will be on the lines of that set up in China," Naidu said.

At a meeting at Hitachi Group, he said Japan Desk with Japanese-speaking officials would be set up at his office to expedite clearances.

Hitachi officials were quoted as saying that the company is interested in developing infrastructure (ports) in Andhra Pradesh but needed good connectivity and incentives.

Naidu invited Hitachi too to be part of building AP's capital city and requested the company to study the capital city plan and also set up an office in the State.

PTI