Gandhinagar: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today said that the grand welcome by people of Gujarat during his visit has made him so overwhelmed that he has pledged to remain a ‘friend’ of India whole of his life.

Addressing the valedictory session of the two day 12 th India Japan annual summit here today PM Abe in presence of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi said,’ 60 years ago my maternal grandfather and the then PM of Japan Nobusuke Kishi had visited India. It was the first visit of any Japanese PM to India post second world war.’

Abe said that his grandfather was touched by the welcome and his introduction to the people of India as PM of India’s close ally Japan. ‘You can imagine, he had come to India as the representative of a defeated country in world war and the economic condition of Japan was also not good at that time yet when PM Nehru introduced him as his best friend, he was so touched by this gesture that I was told that he pledged to remain India’s friend for whole life,’ Abe said.

‘ Yesterday when me and my wife arrived Gujarat, around 50 thousand people welcomed us (during the grand road show). Those were very touching moments for us and I also decided that like my grandfather I will also remain a friend to India whole my life,’ PM Abe added.

He also said that the old friendship between the two countries would further strengthen in the future.

PM Abe also exhorted the Indian youths to learn Japanese language to associate with companies of Japan who were being helpful in India’s growth.
‘I have a message for the youths and ladies of India. Learn Japanese language and associate with those companies of Japan who are in India to aid the growth story of India. Learning the language was important. We are going to start certification course in Japanese in 100 colleges in collaboration with the government of India. In next five years 1000 trainers of Japanese would be prepared,’ he said adding that the four JIMs would train youths in India.

Talking about automotive sector, the area of largest investment of his country in India, he said that in the coming times its form was going to change rapidly and the battery fitted hybrid vehicles of next generation would be the order of the future. India should start to act accordingly.

He reiterated that a powerful India and Japan were mutually beneficial for each other. With the technology of Japan combined with the human resources in India, the country could remain a globally competitive manufacturing hub. ‘Both the government and private sector of his country were willing to assist India in Make in India initiative. The big as well as the SME companies of Japan have high quality technology and the environment of investment in Gujarat has also become better. We have also got several good suggestions from the Indo Japan business forum which can usher us in to a new era,’ he said.

Abe said that he was also willing to work closely with PM Modi for ‘Skill India’.

He also said that more and more people should visit Japan to increase people to people contact. ‘In the last five years the number of visitors from India has almost doubled and last year it was 1.2 lakhs but it was not enough. People in Japan want more and more Indians, the country of lord Buddha to visit, our country,’ PM Abe said.

DeshGujarat