Friday 27 July 2012

Modi hard sells Gujarat to Japanese investors



While Narendra Modi’s interview to an Urdu daily stating that he be publicly hanged if he is found guilty of the 2002 riots is making headlines in India, the Chief Minister is not missing any chance to project Gujarat as the most industry-friendly place to industrialists in Japan.
On the fourth day of his official visit to Japan, Modi and his delegation travelled by bullet train from Hamamatsu to address an investment seminar organised by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) at Nagoya. He also travelled to Osaka to attend a roundtable conference organised by Mizuho Corporation Bank in Osaka. At the end of the day, he went to Kobe to attend a reception by Indians, several of whom comprised Gujaratis.
A delegation of Japan’s renowned carmaker Toyota met Modi in Nagoya on Thursday. Toyota’s advisor Dato Akira Okabe and general manager Makota Sasagura gave details of the company’s plant in India and its expansion plans. Modi spoke about how Gujarat was emerging as an auto hub of Asia.
Speaking at the JETRO seminar in Osaka, attended by the top brass of about 100 companies, the Chief Minister said the bond between Gujarat and Japan has become firmer in the last five years. He said Japan would feel at home in Gujarat due the Gujarat government’s transparent policies, Proactive Pro-people Good Governance (P2G2), skilled and peaceful manpower, environmental-friendly atmosphere as well as cultural similarities. He pointed out that the bulk of land in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which is being implemented in collaboration with Japan, falls in Gujarat.
Modi said Gujarat guaranteed prosperity. He said he was lucky to be able to attend 44 functions in five provinces, meet seven ministers and over 2,000 key personnel during his four-day stay in Japan.
Comparing his Japan visit of 2012 with that of 2007, Modi said earlier people used to asked ‘Why Gujarat’, while today Japan asks ‘Why not Gujarat’. He said at least one delegation from Japanese companies visits Gujarat every week to discuss a new project.
Talking to the top 16 finance and banking companies at the roundtable conference in Osaka, Modi apprised the Japanese companies about Gujarat’s new vibrant textile policy and the textile park policy.
Modi discusses Aichi and Gujarat relations with the governor of Aichi Prefecture Hietchi Ohmura.

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