Ahmedabad, 21 July 2012

Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi will leave for five-day Japan visit on Sunday morning. Late in the evening on Saturday, Shri Modi published a blog post on his Japan visit. Presented is the blog post in full text:

Tomorrow morning I will be leaving for Japan on a 4-day visit to the ‘land of the rising sun’. Japan and India have enjoyed a historical relation as well as a deep cultural bond.

Lord Buddha has been a the binding force that has connected these two great lands and in the modern times we had stalwarts like Swami Vivekananda and Rabindra Nath Tagore who reinforced the strong ties between our two nations.

Apart from a common administrative culture, both India and Japan believe in liberal societies and democratic governance. Thus, it is hardly surprising that India and Japan have become extremely close over the years.

I had the opportunity to visit Japan back in 2007 but since then a lot of new positive developments have taken place between Gujarat and Japan. Mutual exchanges between Gujarat and Japan have become a regular affair.

To give you an example- for the past 30 years, Gujarat University has had a full-fledged student exchange programme with Japan, which has added tremendous value in the lives of many students. Japan has also been a pro-active and valued partner in the last three biennial Vibrant Gujarat investment summits. Furthermore, it is involved with the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project of which Gujarat is an important stakeholder and major beneficiary.

During the 4-day visit, I will have an opportunity to travel across 5 provinces of Japan. Among the 44 functions that would be held, there would be interactions with various political and business leaders of Japan. In addition, it would be a delight to meet sections of the vibrant Indian community that are based there.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the Japanese Government for inviting me along with the delegation from Gujarat as well as showing keenness to strengthen ties between Gujarat and Japan. This visit will be surely a ‘win win’ situation for both Gujarat and Japan both it in terms of economic and cultural forms of cooperation.

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