The Japan Times  Thursday, November 15, 2012  7

Indian prime minister’s visit

Yasuo FukudaPRESIDENT, JAPAN-INDIA PARlIAmENTARY FRIENDShIP lEAGUE, FORmER PRImE mINISTER OF JAPAN

On behalf of the Japan-India Parliamentary Friendship league, I would like to extend our hospitality and warm welcome to Prime minister Dr. manmohan Singh of India on the occasion of this visit to Japan.

Japan and India, which share the value of democracy, human rights and governance by laws, have a friendly relationship founded on a long history of exchanges. In particular, in recent years the Japan-India Strategic and Global Partnership has been strengthened by frequent and active exchanges. leaders of each country have made annual visits since 2005. It is with great pleasure that I make note of the recent welcoming of Dr. Singh by the Japanese government as proof of the close relations between the two countries.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between the two countries, and there were various joint symposiums and exchanges this

year. In April, the two countries held the first bilateral economic talk at the ministerial level and the sixth talk between the two countries’ foreign ministers. Also, there was the second talk on diplomacy and security, the first discussion on cyber issues and two three-way discussions among Japan, India and the U.S. In June, Japan’s maritime Self-Defense Force and India’s Navy conducted their first-ever joint drill.

Joint events are held not only in politics, security and economy, but also at the civilian level. many events cerebrating the 60th anniversary were held in both countries, promoting exchanges at the individual level. As the Japan-India relationship is deepening on many levels, it is very timely that Japan welcomes Dr. Singh.

Dr. Singh has come to Japan as India’s prime minister four times. he has made great contributions to deepening the bilateral relationship. It is my firm belief that Dr. Singh’s arrival in Japan will promote the further strengthening of bilateral relations between Japan and India.

may I take this opportunity to reiterate my sincerest welcome to Dr. Singh and to send my best wishes for the continued development of our friendly relations.

Continued development of friendly relations

Deepa Gopalan WadhwaAmbASSADOR OF INDIA

I am happy  to contribute  to  the special supplement brought out by  The  Japan Times  on  the occasion  of  the visit  of  Prime minister of India dr.  manmohan singh  to  Japan for  the  annual bilateral  Japan-India Prime minister-level sum-mit. 

The  friendship  between  In-dia  and  Japan  commenced  its long journey some 15 centuries ago with the arrival of buddha’s gentle message of love, compas-sion and universal brotherhood from  India.  The  visit  of  the  In-dian buddhist monk bodhisena a thousand years ago to be pres-ent  at  the  consecration  of  the daibutsu  at  the  Todaiji  Temple in  Nara,  the  link  between  Goa and  Kagoshima  established  by st.  Francis  Xavier,  the  open-ing  of  the  Japanese  Consulate in  bombay  (mumbai)  in  1896, the founding of the Japan-India 

association  in  1903,  Gurudev rabindranath  Tagore’s  associa-tion  with  okakura  Tenshin  and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two coun-tries  in  1952  are  some  of  the memorable  landmarks  in  the history of our relations.

Today,  India-Japan  relations stand  poised  at  an  inflection point.  We  are  celebrating  60 years  of  the  establishment  of diplomatic  relations  this  year. These 60 years have been almost indisputably  free  of  any  histori-cal  or  ideological  baggage.  That we share a cultural and spiritual connection  through  buddhism provides us a shared perception of values. Layered over this is our modern-day  identity  as  deeply committed democracies — India the largest in asia and the world, and Japan the oldest in asia. The past  60  years  have  also  seen  Ja-pan emerge as reliable partner in India’s development efforts. The maruti-suzuki  tieup  revolution-ized  industrial  technology  and management  concepts  in  India and  anticipated  our  economic reform.  since  the  1991  opening up  of  the  Indian  economy,  sev-

eral  Japanese  companies  have established  offices  and  joint ventures, a trend which is on the rise.

The  last  decade,  particularly the  period  since  the  establish-ment  of  the  India-Japan  strate-gic  and  Global  Partnership  in 2006,  has  seen  unprecedented progress  in  our  economic  and strategic  engagement.  We  have in  place  a  multi-layered  archi-tecture for dialogue that includes the annual Prime ministerial-lev-el  summit  meetings,  and  meet-ings  between  foreign,  defense and trade ministers and a high-level energy dialogue chaired by the deputy chairman of the plan-ning  commission.  We  also  have talks  at  the  level  of  secretaries of  foreign  affairs,  defense,  eco-nomic affairs, commerce, etc. all these have played an  important role  in  enhancing  mutual  un-derstanding and identifying new areas of cooperation. Their peri-odic  meetings  ensure  we  main-tain  focus on our core objective of deepening and strengthening our relations. and the results are there to see.

The significance of the historic comprehensive  economic  part-nership  agreement  (CePa)  that entered  into  force  a  year  ago  in august  is  one  such  example  of a  comprehensive  agreement that  covers  all  important  areas in bilateral economic discourse, such  as  trade  in  goods  and  ser-vices,  investments,  intellectual property  rights  and  movement of  natural  persons.  The  CePa will eliminate tariffs on about 94 percent of goods that are traded between  India  and  Japan  over a period of 10 years. The effects of  the CePa are already evident and  bilateral  trade  in  the  past year has increased by 27 percent to  $18.59  billion.  There  is  good reason to believe that this trend will  continue  and  help  realize 

the true potential of the CePa.Japan  has  emerged  as  the 

largest  bilateral  donor  to  India and  Japanese  official  develop-ment assistance (oda) has been consistently supportive of India’s efforts for accelerated economic development, particularly in pri-ority areas such as infrastructure. We  are  currently  in  the  process of  implementing  two  flagship projects of India-Japan coopera-tion, namely, the Western dedi-cated  Freight  Corridor  and  the delhi-mumbai  Industrial  Cor-ridor,  which  combined  would have  the  potential  to  transform India. India will also be investing $1 trillion in infrastructure devel-opment in the next five-year plan period. Japanese companies will find  a  welcoming  environment for  their  investments  in  the  op-portunities  provided  by  these projects.  This  trend  is  already discernible as there are over 100 new companies opening shop in India annually. 

There  is  in  India  strong  ad-

miration  for  Japan’s  postwar economic  reconstruction  and emergence as a major economic power, as well as a groundswell of good  will  across  the  population and  political  parties.  The  Indian government and  its people were glad to be of assistance during the triple  disaster  that  struck  Japan in march 2011 by providing relief supplies during the very challeng-ing  period.  In  my  short  stay  in Japan, I have also perceived that there  is  popular  and  bipartisan support  in  Japan  for  enhanced relations with India. 

With  the will of our  two peo-ples  and  the  determination  of our governments to expand ties, the  forthcoming  annual  India-Japan summit meeting between Prime  minister  manmohan singh  and  Prime  minister  yo-shihiko  Noda  will  certainly  im-part  further  momentum  to  our close  and  excellent  relations  by enhancing  cooperation  in  the political  and  strategic  spheres and concretizing interactions for greater economic engagement.

Adding momentum to enhancing ties

Yoshiro moriChAIRmAN, JAPAN-INDIA ASSOCIATION, FORmER PRImE mINISTER OF JAPAN

on  behalf  of the  Japan-In-dia  associa-tion,  which  has worked  for  109 years  for  the benefit  of  Ja-pan-India  rela-tions,  I  extend our  most  heartfelt  welcome to  h.e.  dr.  manmohan  singh, prime  minister  of  India,  who will  be  in  Japan  for  four  days from today.

The two countries began their close  relationship  through  bud-dhism  and  expanded  it  via  dip-lomatic,  economic  and  cultural exchanges.  as  then  prime  min-ister of  Japan,  I  inaugurated  the Japan-India  Global  Partnership with  then  Prime  minister  a.b. vajpayee  in  august  2000,  and since then the bilateral relation-

ship has not only developed for mutual  benefit  but  also  evolved in  cooperation  in  global  issues such  as  reform  of  the  u.N.  se-curity  Council.  Now,  the  prime ministers  of  the  two  countries meet  every  year,  alternating  be-tween  New  delhi  and  Tokyo, with both countries labeling the bilateral relationship as a strate-gic global partnership.

dr.  singh  saved  India  from a  foreign  currency  crisis  in  the early 1990s when he was the fi-nance  minister,  beginning  eco-nomic  reforms  and  laying  the foundation  for  “the  new  India,” which  is  now  a  large,  emerging economy.  dr.  singh  expressed great  gratitude  to  Japan  for swiftly providing financial aid to India  at  the  time  of  the  foreign currency  crisis,  as  well  as  con-tributing  to  making  India  what it  is  now  through  official  devel-opment assistance (oda) since 1958. We now enjoy an extreme-ly friendly bilateral relationship, and  I  believe  we  owe  it  to  dr. 

singh’s  consistently  amicable feelings toward Japan.

This year marks the 60th an-niversary since Japan and India established the diplomatic rela-tionship. The governments and private sectors of both countries have held events celebrating the amicable bilateral ties. I believe dr.  singh’s  visit  to  Japan  this time will take the strategic glob-al  partnership  to  a  higher  level and  strongly  show  our  friendly bilateral relationship to nation-als of the two countries and the world.

The  Japan-India  association will  collaborate  with  the  Inter-national  Friendship  exchange Council and the Japan-India Par-liamentary Friendship League to organize  a  conference  in  which dr. singh will deliver a message to Japanese nationals.

I  hope  for  much  to  be achieved during dr. singh’s visit to Japan this time and for contin-ued development of the bilateral relationship in the future.

‘The new India’ is in good hands

Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh

Key partnership: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda attend a joint press conference in New Delhi on Dec. 28. CAbINET PUblIC RElATIONS OFFICE

第３種郵便物認可 

PAGE: 7

8  The Japan Times  Thursday, November 15, 2012

Indian prime minister’s visit

Masami IijimaCHAIRMAN, JAPAN-INDIA BUSINESS COOPERATION COMMITTEE

On behalf of the Japan-India Business Cooperation Committee (JIBCC), it is my honor to extend my sincerest welcome to H.E. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the occasion of his visit to Japan.

We would like to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Japan-India diplomatic relations this year, which is based on our long-standing mutual understanding and friendship.

When Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda visited India in December 2011, both countries’ prime ministers agreed upon a very comprehensive joint statement

regarding the Vision for the Enhancement of the Japan-India Strategic and Global Partnership. According to the Embassy of Japan, the number of Japanese companies in India reached 926 as of Oct. 1 this year and will exceed 1,000 by the middle of 2013. In these ways, there has been conspicuous growth and progress, especially in the economic relationship between India and Japan, in terms of both trade and investment over the past few years. The relationship, however, has yet to reach a level that is commensurate with the scale of the Indian and Japanese economies, and further steps should be taken.

Fortunately, we recognize that our relationship has shifted from the stage of discussion to the stage of materialization based on deep mutual understanding and vibrant contact in both private and public sectors. From an industry perspective, we

earnestly hope that the Japan-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (JICEPA) will be broadly utilized to strengthen the economic relationship further between our countries. After introduction of the JICEPA in August 2011, the trade volume between the two countries significantly increased, and it has proved to be a vital agreement. Last October, the first Meeting of the JICEPA Sub-Committee on Improvement of the Business Environment was held by government officials from both countries. We welcome and emphasize the importance of such discussions, which will lead to the improvement of the business environment for the benefit of existing and potential investors. The world economy continues to face uncertainty; however, there is no doubt that our joint efforts will be a powerful driving force not only for both nations but also for the rest

of the world, in particular for Asian counties as well.

Meanwhile, on Dec. 1, the grand finale of the 60th Anniversary of Japan-India Diplomatic Relations, featuring beautiful fireworks and a projection mapping event, is scheduled to be held at the India Gate in New Delhi. The members of the JIBCC have the honor of supporting this grand finale, and we look forward to enjoying such a memorable time together with our friends in India.

The JIBCC would like to work toward establishing stronger Japan-India relationships at the interpersonal level through a strong commitment to further economic exchange.

Finally, in addition to celebrating the arrival of Dr. Singh to Japan, I would like to express my wishes for the further continued development of our two countries.

Bilateral economic relationship has shifted from discussion to materialization

Takashi ShodaCHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON SOUTH ASIA, KEIDANREN

on  behalf  of Keidanren,  I would  like  to extend  our warm  welcome to  h.e.  man-mohan  singh, prime  minister of India.

The  India-Japan  economic ties  have  become  one  of  the most  vital  and  promising  rela-tions  in  asia  since  the  Japan-India  Comprehensive  eco-nomic  Partnership  agreement (JICePa) went into effect in au-gust  2011.    our  bilateral  trade and  investment  have  achieved remarkable  growth.  The  India-Japan  trade  totalled  about  ¥1.3 trillion  in  2010  and  over  ¥1.4 trillion  in  2011,  an  increase  of over  10  percent  in  a  year.  In 2011,  Japan’s  foreign  direct  in-vestment  (FdI)  to  India  has 

amounted to ¥181 billion.  It is a good time for the busi-

ness sectors of the two countries to build up the momentum and step up efforts to further expand and  strengthen  India-Japan business cooperation as the two countries celebrate the 60th an-niversary  of  diplomatic  rela-tionship  this  year.    Keidanren is  proud  to  have  served  as  the secretariat  for  the  Japan-India business Leaders Forum (JIbLF) four times in the past, which led to the conclusion of the JICePa and the bilateral social security agreement,  as  well  as  India’s opening its market  for multiple brand retailers.   It must also be remembered  that  in  this  com-memorative  year  the  Confed-eration  of  Indian  Industry  and Keidanren  organized  the  Japan India  business  summit  in  may to further seek business oppor-tunities between the two coun-tries.    Taking  this  opportunity of  h.e.  singh’s  visit  to  Japan, Keidanren  will  host  the  fifth 

JIbLF on Nov. 16 to enhance our essential bilateral economic re-lationship.  

In order to maintain and ac-celerate the strong, sustainable economic  growth,  it  is  critical for  India  to  upgrade  its  infra-structure.  Japan  and  India  are working  together  on  joint  ini-tiatives  for  infrastructure  de-velopment,  such  as  the  delhi-mumbai  Industrial  Corridor (dmIC)  Project  and  the  south India  core  nodal  development. The  Japanese  business  com-munity  is  pleased  to  continue to support these collaborations through public-private partner-ships.  

Last  but  not  least,  on  behalf of  Keidanren,  I  wish  to  express our deep gratitude to h.e. singh for his coming  to  Japan on  this occasion.  I  sincerely  hope  that his  visit  will  be  fruitful  and  re-warding  and  help  to  further deepen  the  friendship  and partnership  between  India  and Japan.

Helping to enhance our essential economic ties

Bollywood Dance Troupe tour•Nov. 25 to 29

The bollywood dance Troupe will tour Japan from okinawa to Tokyo, performing hit songs from Indian  films  from  the  1950s  to today. masani Penaz doli  is  the singer,  acidwalla  Nawaz  yezdi is  the  manager  and  coordina-tor  and  vikramjeet  singh  is  the sound  technician.  They  will  be accompanied by nine dancers.

The troupe will perform at the National  Theater  okinawa  on Nov.  25,  the  Niigata  Prefectural hall  on  Nov.  27,  the  Fukushima Cultural  Center  on  Nov.  28  and the  embassy  of  India  in  Tokyo on Nov. 29.

India  Fair  at  Isetan  depart-ment store in Shinjuku, Tokyo•dec. 12 to 17

The  fair  will  aim  to  show  the modern  side  of  India,  which is  often  overshadowed  by  the long  history  of  India.  Goods  for sale  include  clothes  and  other fashion items designed and pro-duced by Indian designers. Tra-ditional aspects, such as antique jewelry provided by Gem Palace Jaipur, will also be introduced at the fair so that Japanese visitors will  be  able  to  learn  about  the heritage, craftsmanship and his-tory of Indian jewelry.

Exhibition  of  Pt.  Konin  Omi-ya’s Brami Script Writing•dec.  3  to  7,  10  a.m.  to  5  p.m. (opens  2  p.m.  on  the  first  day and  closes  at  4:30  p.m.  on  the last day.)

The  exhibition  of  the  lan-guage,  which  came  from  an-cient  India  and  was  developed uniquely in Japan, will take place at ICC Gallery, embassy of India, in Tokyo. The organizer is sittan-zou research society, myogyouji Temple.

Dancing  of  the  Lives  on Mother  Earth  —  A  Creative Integration  of  Indian  Classi-cal Dances•dec. 14, 6:30 p.m.

virtuoso  performances  of Kathak,  bharatanatyam  and odissi,  commemorating  the 60th  anniversary  of  Japan-India diplomatic relations will be held at  Nakano  sunplaza  in  Nakano Ward, Tokyo.

The  event  is  being  orga-nized  by  the  min-on  Concert association.

Events related to the 60th year of India-Japan diplomatic relations

Culture: As part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the India-Japan diplomatic relationship, Kathak, one of the eight forms of Indian classical dance, originating from Uttar Pradesh, is performed by Monisa Nayak (center) and her group at the India Cultural Center Auditorium, Embassy of India, on June 22. EMBASSY OF INDIA

Innovation and technology: The Gujarat Solar Park is being constructed across a desolate desert in Gujarat, western India, accounting for 214 megawatts of photovoltaic solar capacity, making it one of the world’s largest solar fields. The Nehru Science Centre (left), started in 1977, is named after India’s first prime minister and is the country’s largest interactive science museum and education center, located in Worli, Mumbai. EMBASSY OF INDIA

 第３種郵便物認可

PAGE: 8

The Japan Times  Thursday, November 15, 2012  9

Indian prime minister’s visit

Ryuko HiraHonoRaRy PResident, indian CHambeR of CommeRCe and industRy JaPan

The  world  has witnessed  the presence  of great leaders like shigeru  yoshida, Nobusuke  Ki-shi,  sun  yat-sen, Jawaharlal  Neh-ru,  John  F.  Ken-nedy, Nelson mandela and many other highly accomplished leaders.

but  never  has  there  been  a statesman  like  dr.  manmohan singh,  who  has  been  loved  and revered equally at home in India and  by  all  corners  of  the  world. almost every leader of the world has visited India and experienced the satisfaction of the true friend-ship and sincerity of his good will.

history  will  write  dr.  man-mohan singh as a “man without enemies.”  even  China  or  Paki-stan,  who  have  had  historical issues  with  India,  have  made great  progress  with  Prime  min-ister singh’s policy of “India is a friend to all nations.”

u.s.  President  barack  obama, leader of the world’s greatest na-tion,  upon  his  visit  to  India  said “Prime  minister  singh  is  my guru.”  Guru  is  often  defined  in english as a master for a disciple or a teacher for a student, but the true meaning of “gu” is darkness and “ru” is remover.

remover  of  darkness,  illu-sion  and  ignorance  is  the  best description  for  Prime  minister singh, as he has established irre-versible social and economic re-forms that have given the world a  new  role  model  to  overcome the  quagmire  of  poverty,  by  re-moving  people’s  ignorance  by providing knowledge-based edu-cation, and removing the illusion of fate by empowering hundreds of millions of his fellow country-

men with unprecedented oppor-tunities  to  work  hard  and  build India’s  infrastructure  of  roads, railways and ports.

In 2006, Japan honored Prime minister  singh,  inviting  him  to address all members of  the diet, where  he  said:  “each  time  I  visit Japan I am truly inspired by your progress  and  touched  by  your generosity.  I will never  forget my visit there in 1992. It was my first bilateral  visit  as  India’s  finance minister.  I  had  come  to  express our  gratitude  for  Japan’s  help  in dealing  with  an  unprecedented economic crisis in 1991. This crisis gave  us  an  opportunity  to  break out of an old mold and embark on a new path to progress through an open economy ready to compete in a globalizing world. We looked toward Japan then to learn the vir-tues  of  resilience  and  dedication and  how  to  create  opportunity out  of  adversity.  Today,  I  return to Japan as the Prime minister of a new India. as a  result of wide-ranging economic reforms initiat-ed in the early 1990s. India’s econ-omy  has  acquired  the  resilience to  accept  the  challenge  and  op-portunity  provided  by  economic globalization and the emergence of a multi-polar world.”

on  behalf  of  all  members  of the  Indian  Chamber  of  Com-merce and Industry Japan (ICCJ) and the Indian merchants associ-ation of yokohama (Imay), I am honored  and  privileged  to  wel-come India’s Prime minister h.e. dr. manmohan singh to Japan.

In this 92nd year of the found-ing  of  ICCJ/Imay,  we  take  this opportunity  to  thank  our  prime minister  for  providing  every  as-sistance and care to we overseas Indians in Japan.

We  heartily  welcome  our prime  minister  and  pray  for  the fulfillment of bilateral aspirations.

may your excellency’s visit be happy, memorable and most re-warding.

dr. singh improves indians’ lives through fundamental reforms

Tradition: Commemorating the 60th anniversary of India-Japan diplomatic relations, various events, such as the demonstration of the Indian martial art form Kalaripayattu on Sept. 24 and the performance of the Indian folk dance Purulia Chhau (top) on Oct. 26, have taken place at the India Cultural Centre Auditorium at the Embassy of India in Tokyo. india CultuRal CentRe, embassy of india

yog KapooroWneR, indian RestauRant CHain samRat

dr. manmohan singh, the architect of india’s first wave of market-oriented reforms in the 1990s, brought innovation to india.

finally, the government is taking steps in the right directions; the reforms have come at a time when investor sentiment is down the drain.

speaking to ministers and advisers in new delhi, dr. singh while he talked about surviving flagging economic growth, improving the investment climate and boosting public finances in india, he gave the green light to a foreign supermarket chain to enter the country as an economic reform. the government of dr. singh has taken many decisions to bolster economic growth and make india a more attractive destination for the global players for foreign investment .

the indian government also relaxed investment rules in the aviation sector to allow foreign airlines for the first time.

dr. singh’s accomplishments are extraordinary as the india that existed when he took office in 1991 was an inefficient, centrally planned economy and struggling to redistribute the country’s wealth to combat poverty. twenty years later, india boasts a globalized economy with a dynamic business culture. today, india competes on its own terms and pulls more than 10 million people out of poverty every year under the leadership of dr. singh. He has done the most to make this possible, clearly determined to consolidate his legacy after a spot of financial crisis. india and the world will watch him with hope for peace and prosperity.

Welcome to the ‘innovator’ of India(advertisement)

第３種郵便物認可 

PAGE: 9