Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Before heading for China to participate in the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit (August 31-September 1), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met governors of 16 Japanese prefectures in Tokyo, calling for stronger collaboration between Indian states and Japanese prefectures, the media reported.
In Japan, a prefecture is the highest local government division, comparable to a state or a province in other countries.
The meeting was part of his day-long programme in Japan that also included interactions with business leaders and cultural exchanges.
Highlighting the State-Prefecture Partnership Initiative launched at the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit, PM Modi said the framework could boost cooperation in trade, technology, tourism, skills, security, and cultural exchanges. He urged governors and Indian state governments to build partnerships in areas such as manufacturing, mobility, start-ups, and small and medium enterprises.
“Each prefecture in Japan has its own economic and technological strengths, and likewise, Indian states have diverse capabilities. This is the time to combine Japanese technology with Indian talent,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
The Japanese governors agreed that sub-national collaboration was vital to deepen business, educational, cultural, and people-to-people ties.
“State-prefecture cooperation is a vital pillar of India-Japan friendship…There is immense scope to cooperate in areas like trade, innovation, entrepreneurship and more. Futuristic sectors like Start-ups, technology, and AI too can be beneficial,” PM Modi wrote in a post on X.
Many an Indian state already have active partnerships with Japanese prefectures. They include Andhra Pradesh with Toyama, Tamil Nadu with Ehime, Uttar Pradesh with Yamanashi, and Gujarat with Shizuoka, according to a joint statement issued on Friday.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the two countries had signed nearly 150 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth USD 13 billion over the past two years.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the two sides concluded a wide-ranging set of agreements during PM Modi’s visit. These include: India-Japan Joint Vision for the Next Decade; Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation; Action Plan for India-Japan Human Resource Exchange; Implementing arrangement between ISRO and JAXA for a joint lunar polar exploration mission; Joint Declaration of Intent on Clean Hydrogen and Ammonia; Joint Statement of Intent on Science and Technology Collaboration; MoC on Joint Crediting Mechanism; MoU on India-Japan Digital Partnership 2.0; MoC in the field of Mineral Resource; MoC on Cultural Exchange; MoU on Decentralised Domestic Waste Water Management; MoC in the field of Environment Cooperation; and an MoU between the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service and Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Joint Vision document identified eight areas to guide the partnership, ranging from economic security and ecological cooperation to health, innovation, and people-to-people links.
On Friday, PM Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who also rode a bullet train, announced that Japan aimed to invest Japanese yen 10 trillion (USD 67 billions) in private investment into India over the next decade. Both leaders also agreed to strengthen industrial cooperation under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, expand semiconductor and battery supply chain partnerships, and continue work on India’s high-speed rail project.