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Japanese Ambassador to India, Takeshi Yagi, today inaugurated Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce Kerala (Injack), an organisation to connect small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kerala with Japan.
It would groom SMEs in the state and would soon work out the fine-print of the nature of collaboration between Kerala and Japan. The organisation will have both corporate and individuals as members.
Addressing a pre-launch press conference here, the Japanese Ambassador said economic relation between Japan and India had been expanding The number of Japanese companies in India has reached 1,072 in 2013. Though there are 15 Japanese companies operating in Kerala, the number of branches set up by them had doubled from 53 to 105 in the past one year.
However, he said the Indo-Japanese bilateral trade was a paltry $20 billion or 2 per cent of India’s total trade. In Kerala, IT and tourism industries are the engines of growth of the economy. In relation to it, the Japanese Ministry of Economy and Trade and Industry (METI) and India’s communication and IT ministry had started the joint working group on IT and electronics last year, he said. In relation to tourism, an MoU was signed between the Japan Tourism Agency and the Ministry of Tourism of India in January. “It is my hope that new buds of cooperation will emerge and Injack can play an important role,” he said.
T Balakrishnan, president of the chamber, said the organisation would act as a catalyst for strengthening trade relations, promote bi-lateral trade, facilitate investment and technology transfer, joint ventures, business collaborations and strategic tie-ups.
Injack will focus on strengthening opportunities for businesses in Kerala to form strategic partnerships and joint ventures with business entities in Japan.
