Love In Tokyo: Mithi and fellow MPs create track-2 channel for better Indo-Japan ties

A MONTH before Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh landed up in Japan which was till recently the world’s second largest economy, a delegation of MPs including Rajya Sabha MP Mukut Mithi visited the island nation to improve India-Japan politico-business relations. Mithi, also the chairman of North-East MPs’ Forum, joined the multi-party India-Japan Forum of Parliamentarians’ delegation that visited various important cities between September 19 to 24, 2010.
India’s Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh who is currently in Japan addressed a business forum on October 25 where he said that India-Japan trade was still at a low threshold, apart from being unbalanced. PM expected that the bilateral trade made a robust rebound in 2010 and should exceed 20 billion US dollars by 2012. “I am happy to note that Japanese Foreign Direct Investment in India has grown substantially in the last three years. Much of this has been due to mergers and acquisitions. We welcome greater Japanese participation in Indian industry through Foreign Direct Investment. We seek the creation of new capacity in India’s manufacturing and infrastructure sectors and freer flow of high-end technologies,” PM added.

Significantly, the rapid improvement of India-Japan relations is the result of many a factor including track-two channels which at times work better in improving business relations. The Parliamentarians’ delegation which included Mithi is one of such efforts. The visit was organized by Indian industry body, Ficci, and is co-sponsored by Japan’s foreign ministry.

Mithi and other MPs met a number of senior Parliamentarians, government officials, business leaders, intellectuals and media personnel. 

(In Picture: (On Top) Mithi in the backdrop of a Shinkansen, popularly known as Bullet Train. 2nd picture -- MPs enjoying Japanese Green Tea)