Japanese minister bats for better business environment in India
New Delhi, July 28
Japan has urged India to address the difficulties that its companies face in the Indian market even as it reiterated the commitment made by its PM Fumio Kishida of a 5-trillion-yen target of public and private investment and financing in the next five years starting 2022.
‘Delhi indispensable for free Indo-Pacific’
India is an “indispensable” partner in achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific and Japan intends to deepen cooperation with New Delhi in all areas to expand the special strategic and global partnership between the two sides, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Friday.
At two engagements during his brief trip to India, Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa made the case for a more conductive business environment, including transparency and a stable tax regime. “We will be in touch with the Indian Government to find ways to address this issue,” said Japan Deputy Press Secretary Yukiko Okano while briefing the media on Friday.
“Japanese people want to see a more predictable, transparent business environment here in India. Infrastructure challenges have been raised in the past. The Japanese business sectors see an opportunity in India for business investment,” she said.
On Thursday evening, Hayashi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar co-chaired a 150-minute India-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue. On Friday, Hayashi and Jaishankar attended the opening session of the India-Japan Forum, co-hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs of India and Ananta Aspen Centre.
Hayashi said bilateral cooperation for the “future of the Indo-Pacific” based on the new Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) plan would promote a “special strategic and global partnership” in a range of fields, including politics, security, economic and development cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and cooperation in multilateral and international forums.
The two leaders affirmed that they would continue to advance cooperation in the field of defence and security such as equipment cooperation and defence exchanges.
