Japanese investment in smart cities high on Modi agenda

During his visit to Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hoping to seal several bilateral agreements.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

During his visit to Japan, from August 31 to September 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hoping to seal several bilateral agreements.

According to diplomatic sources, these will include infrastructural investment for the government’s “smart cities” initiative, with Japan proposing project development agreements on high-speed railways, more industrial corridors, and road-links and rail-links through the north-eastern States to ASEAN countries as well.

>What are smart cities? By 2050, about 70 per cent of the population will be living in cities, and India is no exception.

Co-production projects “More than direct investment and sales, we are encouraging Japanese investors to look at co-production projects,” a senior Cabinet official told The Hindu , in line with Mr. Modi’s Independence Day message of “come, make in India.”

The President of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India has written to Commerce Secretary Amitabh Kant, seeking “urgent intervention to resolve the issues” in areas including India’s “tax system, banking sector, logistics and distribution segment, visas and the pivotal infrastructure sector,” which are creating hurdles to increased Foreign Direct Investment.

>'Enlightened national interest' is at core of Modi’s foreign policy mantra. The one aspect of the new government’s foreign policy that has moved from the past is the tougher language of discourse with leaders.