Japan is the only country which India has an annual summit as well as 2 plus 2 dialogue “The fact, tells how much more in sync we have become in terms of how we look at the world and define our interests,” said the minister.
Addressing an event on India-Japan ties on Friday, Jaishankar said that there has been a very visible increase in economic cooperation between the two countries with an increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows from Japan.
“FDI inflows from Japan have gone up. The number of Japanese companies in India has gone up. ODA (Official development assistance) disbursements and projects which Japan is doing, that has scaled up,”
Addressing the event Japan’s Charge De Affairs in Delhi, Toshihide Ando stressed on exploring new areas of partnership between the two countries. He said that the collaboration between Japan and India is multi-faceted including a growing service sector, “Efforts should be on touching upon new frontiers including IT, 5G AI and others”. The Japanese diplomat also said that in an increasingly uncertain world Japan-India bring about an assurance over peace, stability, and prosperity by working with other like-minded countries.
Referring to the Covid pandemic which has expanded the sense of National Security globally EAM said “We started thinking of Health security as an aspect of National Security, but increasingly, I think people will look for Economic Security and to some degree supply chain security as integral elements.” Highlighting the global supply chain issue he said that strategic autonomy today has a meaning in terms of a resilient and trusted supply chains and this is a new version that is opening up as an area of cooperation between India and Japan.
On the business environment in India and investors comparing it with other countries in the world, EAM Jaishankar said “I think there’s got to be realism, India is India, but if you take a country with completely different political-sociology and say, well I get that there, well, that’s a different country. Japanese investors can’t wait for the perfect investment conditions to come in.”
EAM reiterated that ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ is all about manufacturing for the world, it is about creating jobs. “It is also about making ourselves a more capable player as compared to the rest of the world. India needs to have an employment-centered economy.”
He said that in the changing times of world with the Corona pandemic every country has a right to pursue its National interest, but, he said, “Part of international relations is how do you temperate National interest with requirements of Global common good”
Report by Abhishek Jha