Innovation seminar held in India welcoming PM Abe

December 2015

During the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India, JETRO organized a seminar under the keyword “innovation” in New Delhi on December 11. The seminar was held with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the New Energy and Industrial Development Organization (NEDO) attracting approximately 450 business people from Japan and India.

In his opening remarks, JETRO President Yasushi Akahoshi stated that business cooperation taking advantage of the strengths of both countries, expansion of two-way trade and investment and collaboration in third countries or wider areas beyond the framework of the two countries would be essential to improve our economic relations to the next stage. To that end, he continued that the seeking for new possibilities from the perspective of innovation would be crucial.

In the following three sessions a total of 20 speakers, including executives of major Japanese companies and representatives from Japanese ministries, institutions and universities as well as the Indian Government, made presentations on their initiatives toward enhancing economic relations of both countries

In the closing session, Prime Minister Abe, who was welcomed by the representatives from three Indian economic associations (CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM), expressed the importance of relations between the two countries in Japan’s Growth Strategy as well as the significance of high quality infrastructure partnerships and cooperation in science and technology. In addition, he made a direct appeal to the audience to “Come, invest in Japan!” in response to a prior statement given by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Japan.