Japan to partner Vibrant Gujarat

Gujarat’s biennial investment mela is truly going global. Breaking a seven-year jinx, Japan has become the first country to join hands with the state government for the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit to be held on January 12-13 next year. Japan’s interest in Gujarat stems from the fact that nearly 40 per cent of the proposed Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), which is being built with Japanese funding, falls in the state. The Japanese External Trade Organisation (JETRO) will be leading a delegation of 40-odd industrialists and officials of the ministry of international trade and industry (MITI). “Among the top names that have agreed to be here are Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyoto and Honda,” said a senior official. The proposal to make Japan a partner country was put forth before Japanese officials during managing director, GIDC, Maheshwar Sahu’s visit to Japan to canvass for Vibrant Gujarat. Among the issues to be discussed will be ‘Mini Japan’, an exclusive city meant for the Japanese to be located between Dholera and Fedra, where an international merchant airport has been planned. Investment in the ports sector and creating a chain of godowns along the DMIC, especially in Dholera special investment region (SIR), will be on the agenda. The United Kingdom was a partner country at the resurgent Gujarat partnership meet, which took place on February 8-9, 2002. But a few weeks later, the post-Godhra riots started and that kept foreign investors away from Gujarat.