The relations between South India and Japan received a further boost on Tuesday with the visit of Former Prime Minister of Japan Yoshiro Mori and Mr. Hiroshi Hirabayashi, President of the Japan-India Association (JIA), to the city.
Two Indian organisations exchanged memorandums of understanding with the JIA. They were signed by Mr. Hirabayashi at a ceremony presided over by Mr. Mori, who is JIA Chairman.
The agreements focus mainly on business, culture and people-to-people contacts. The first, signed by the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IJCCI), includes cooperation on climate management and clean energy, including civil nuclear energy, N. Krishnaswami, IJCCI president, told The Hindu .
The second provides for a scholarship for four students to travel to Japan for a fortnight of cultural exchange, and a mutual agreement to partner start-up businesses from each nation with host countries, said G. Chandramohan, President Alumni Association ABK-AOTS DOSAKAI, an organisation that promotes advanced industrial management, cultural exchange and Japanese language in Tamil Nadu.
“I feel strongly that Japan-India relation have added width, depth and strength,” said Mr. Mori, expressing regret that this was his first trip to Chennai in almost 10 years of contact with India.
Mr. Mori was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2004 for his instrumental role in the normalisation of Indo-Japan relations following the fall out between nations in the wake of the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests. Since his first visit in 2000, annual visits between Indian and Japanese prime ministers has led to the establishment of the “Strategic and Global Partnership” between the two nations.
