Friday 14 March 2014

Japanese Envoy Optimistic about Trade Ties with Kerala

Japanese ambassador to India Takeshi Yagi said that his country is exploring the opportunities to cooperate with Kerala in IT and Tourism sectors. He was speaking at a press conference here on Thursday.
Takeshi added that the Japanese companies are looking to expand their operations in South India because there are more Japanese citizens working in the region compared to the rest of the country.
Later, the ambassador inaugurated the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce Kerala (INJACK), which is a non-profit organisation to connect the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kerala with Japan.
“The bilateral trade between Japan and India is worth $20 billion, which is only 2 percent of the total trade of India. But the trade has increased by seven times in the past decade. The foreign direct investment from Japan has increased by 7-8 times during the last three years. At present, 1,072 Japanese companies are operating in India, half of them in its southern part,” he added. While commenting on the Japanese companies operating in Kerala, Takeshi said that though only 15 companies have presence in the ‘God’s own country’, the number of branches is increasing rapidly.
“The number of branches of Japanese companies in Kerala has increased from 53 to 105 in an year. With INJACK, we are positive about the future of trade between Kerala and Japan,” he said.
“Japanese companies are already participating in efforts to provide better connectivity within India. The major flagship projects in this regard are the Delhi-Mumbai and the Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridors. Japan is also interested in collaborating with the projects aimed at increasing water connectivity among ASEAN nations,” he said.
Yagi visited the Nippon Toyota showroom and the Nitta Gelatin company.  INJACK president T Balakrishnan, secretary Jacob Kovoor, Kerala State Higher Education Council Vice-chairman T P Sreenivasan, V P Nandakumar and Babu Moopan spoke.

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