NEW DELHI: An Excerpt from the conversation between Dr. Jagannath Panda, Head of the Stockholm Centre for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs, Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP), Sweden, Director of Europe-Asia Research Cooperation, Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies, Japan, Editor, ‘Scaling India-Japan Cooperation in Indo-Pacific and Beyond 2025: Corridors, Connectivity and Contours’ and Author, ‘India-China Relations: Politics of Resources, Identity and Authority in a Multipolar World Order’ and StratNews Global Associate Editor Amitabh P. Revi.
Watch the full discussion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xw0OzhEKOY&t=3s
Transcript:
Definitely, it’s a win-win situation for both the countries at this moment. What we need to understand is that Japan has got a kind of green signal, a qualification certificate to its credit, when it comes to India’s domestic constituency, particularly economic constituency. To that effect, Japan has every right to invest and emerge as a greater actor. Also what we need to understand is that there are currently almost 1450 Japanese companies all across India. That’s a big, big number. Every city has some top notch Japanese companies. Japanese equipment, technologies are becoming very popular in India. To Japan’s credit, Japan has almost 11 Industrial townships which have been successfully established. In Rajasthan, Neemrana, in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. These are actually big examples of how Japan has built its credibility as an economic actor. And more importantly, Japan is the fifth largest source of FDI, largest supplier of official development investment in India. That’s a big big issue, because with every passing year Japan becomes a key economic actor with a green signal in all the regions in India. In fact, when we talk about the northeastern part of India, Japan is the only country which has been given the green signal to invest all across the eight states in a range of issues, in a range of areas, be it in sanitation, road and infrastructure development . So all this investment that you mentioned, in the next five years, is going to cover a range of areas, a range of states, and therefore there is a scope for Japan to emerge as the greatest ever economic actor in the Indian domestic market. There are examples like Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail network, dedicated freight corridors, metro projects, Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridors and all of these initiatives are actually bringing Japan into the radar of India’s domestic companies and domestic audience to believe that Japan is a credible actor. So, there is hope for a greater partnership between India and Japan in times to come.
