Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underscored the stellar role of Japan in the infrastructure development of India. He was addressing the media after signing agreements with Japan Prime Minister Kishida Fumio at New Delhi during his maiden visit to India. The agreements are in six areas including cyber security, waste water management and clean energy.
Mr Modi said,: the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project which is being built with the technical and financial aid of Japan is progressing well. “Both the countries are working on this with the approach of ‘One Team One Project’. This project is a great example of India-Japan partnership. Similarly the work of Delhi-Mumbai dedicated freight corridor is also progressing as scheduled. This is one of the major infrastructure projects in the world and is being built jointly by India and Japan. The estimated cost of the project is over $ 90 billion. Mr. Modi added that Japan’s contributions are crucial in the flagship projects in India.
Mr. Kishida arrived in New Delhi on March 19 to take part in the 14th India-Japan annual summit and also to hold discussions with PM Mr. Modi
Touching on the long-standing friendship between India and Japan, Mr. Modi said, cementing the friendship is not only important to both countries but to Indo-Pacific and the world also for strengthening peace and stability.
Japan is one of the biggest investors in India. Mr. Modi said Japan had exceeded the targeted 3.5 trillion Japanese Yen investment target in India set in 2014. Currently, the investment target has been upped and the target for the coming five years is five trillion yen (Rs. 3.2 lakh crore), he said. On the facilities for Japanese investors Mr. Modi said India has made giant strides in the last few years in ease of doing business.
It is pointed out that India is one of the biggest recipients of Japan’s overseas development programme (ODA) and Japan is the third largest investor in India. The Delhi Metro was done in cooperation with Japan. Japan’s JBIC bank is a stakeholder in Delhi Mumbai industrial corridor. Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai metros are also getting Japan’s financial aid.
