METI Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry of : Minister Seko Visited India and the Russian Federation

From January 8 to 13, 2017, Mr. Hiroshige Seko, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, visited India and the Russian Federation. In India, he held meetings with H.E. Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, and other government dignitaries, and attended India-Japan Energy Forum 2017 and Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017.

In Russia, Minister Seko held meetings with H.E. Mr. Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Prime Minister, and other government dignitaries, and held the second meeting of the Japan-Russia Energy Initiative Council with H.E. Mr. Aleksandr Novak, Minister of Energy.

1. India

1) Meeting with government dignitaries

The Modi administration has been proactively committed to industrial development and diplomacy enhancement and strongly expects Japan to contribute to these fields. In light of this situation, Minister Seko held meetings with Prime Minister Modi, H.E. Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and H.E. Mr. Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister of Gujarat, to overcome challenges that India is facing, encourage Japanese companies to win markets in India, and specify Japan-India cooperation in the fields of industry and energy.

First of all, Japan advanced the effort for specification of investment promotion measures to achieve a goal agreed between the leaders in Japan and India that Japan will double the investment amount in India and the number of Japanese companies developing business in the country over five years. Specifically, Japan requested India to support the Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) project targeting 30,000 people in India and appointed eight Monodzukuri Human Resource Ambassadors. Following this, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) decided to invest in plug-and-play rental factories to encourage Japanese SMEs to develop business in India, and then, Japan and India held a signing ceremony for concluding a memorandum of understanding, which was witnessed by Gujarat Chief Minister Rupani. Furthermore, Japan requested India to cover the Japan Industrial Townships (JITs), where Japanese SMEs are also running business, by the Special Incentive Package Scheme regardless of such companies' investment scale in India.

In addition, encouraging the top executives of 25 Japanese companies that have been contributing to major agendas in the Modi administration e.g., the Make in India initiative and the development of high speed rail in India , to attend these meetings with ministers in India in order to show the presence of Japanese companies, Japan also encouraged these dignitaries to develop the business environment for Japanese companies in India, which contributed to advancing the approaches to solving challenges.

Meeting with Prime Minister Modi

Meeting with Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Sitharaman

Meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Rupani

1. Meeting with Prime Minister Modi
   • In the morning of January 10, Minister Seko held a meeting with Prime Minister Modi, and both sides exchanged views regarding issues in broad areas, including industrial human resource development, cooperation in the field of energy, promotion of economic collaboration, and investment promotion by the JITs and other Japanese companies. Bearing in mind the potential changes in international orders, Minister Seko made a proposal concerning Japan-India cooperation toward the stabilization of the situation in Asia that Japan and India should fortify cooperation to encourage ASEAN to lead the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and to formulate high-quality RCEP covering broad areas. He also made another proposal that both sides should specify the approaches to the Asia-Africa Growth Corridors project. Prime Minister Modi agreed with these proposals.
   • Concerning cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, Minister Seko mentioned its measures for nuclear disaster prevention, which was recently praised by Prime Minister Modi, and made a proposal to Prime Minister Modi that Japan intends to invite stakeholders from the government of India to Japan for a tour of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and other nuclear facilities. Prime Minister Modi expressed his appreciation to Minister Seko.
2. Meeting with Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Sitharaman
   • In the morning of January 9, Minister Seko held a meeting with Minister Sitharaman, and both sides exchanged views concerning various efforts, including cooperation in the field of intellectual property and promotion of economic collaboration through high-quality RCEP.
   • Minister Seko also mentioned the development of intellectual property systems, an effort indispensable for investment promotion in India, and proposed that Japan should cooperate in improving such systems in India, including establishment of a high-level meeting and accelerated granting of intellectual property rights through providing improved training courses and other programs. Minister Sitharaman highly appraised the proposal.
3. Meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Rupani
   • In the morning of January 10, Minister Seko held a meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Rupani and requested him to promptly solve challenges in the business environment in Gujarat that Japanese companies are facing, including the issue regarding uncollected loan receivables.

2) Attending the opening ceremony of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017 and other events

On January 9 and 10, as the first Minister of State of Japan, Minister Seko attended Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017, an event aiming to attract investment in India, bringing together top-level global business leaders. The inauguration ceremony of the event brought together Prime Minister Modi, and other heads of state, ministers, CEOs from top-level companies, and other stakeholders from Kenya, Rwanda, France and other countries.

In the afternoon of January 9, Minister Seko visited Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show 2017 and toured with Prime Minister Modi the exhibition booths showcased by Suzuki Motor Corporation and other Japanese companies.

In the afternoon of January 10, Minister Seko attended the opening ceremony of the trade show. He delivered a speech as a guest of honor before an audience of a few thousand people and described the public and private contribution of Japan to the economic development in India, which Prime Minister Modi has been promoting, and Japan's future policies including those for the fields of the environment, energy conservation and infrastructures.

Moreover, witnessed by Minister Seko, Japan appointed eight people who have finished training provided by the Overseas Human Resources and Industry Development Association (HIDA) and the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS), Japanese organizations proactively deploying activities for the industrial development in India, as Monozukuri Human Resource Ambassadors, an initiative to contribute to industrial human resource development in India.

Group photo of Minister Seko, Prime Minister Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister Rupani, and accompanying executives of Japanese companies

Minister Seko delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017

Ceremony for appointing Monozukuri Human Resource Ambassadors

3) Energy cooperation

In the morning of January 9, Minister Seko held a meeting with H.E. Mr. Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, and also attended India-Japan Energy Forum 2017 organized by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

Minister Seko and Minister Goyal agreed that both sides will realize a gas-to-power project, in which a package of initiatives from LNG procurement to power generation is conducted to facilitate natural gas power generation, and will start Japan-India discussions concerning systematic challenges that independent power producers (IPP) are facing. Moreover, both sides also agreed to start human resource development efforts to enhance understanding of Japan's environmental technologies involving coal-fired power generation. Concerning the measures for power grids, both sides agreed that they will start discussions toward the realization of a model for supplying high-quality electricity in India, and also agreed that they will advance the demonstration project in which, through NEDO, storage batteries are connected to grids and a supply-demand balance is adjusted. Furthermore, both sides also reached consensus on that they will advance human resource development to facilitate understanding of a variety of guidelines under the Act on the Rational Use of Energy of Japan and that they will incorporate these guidelines into systems in India as early as possible.

In addition, at the forum, Minister Seko stated that Japan will enhance cooperation with India in certain fields, including environmental measures, stable power grids, and energy efficiency.

Meeting with Minister Goyal

Energy forum

2. Russia

From January 11 (Wed.) to 12 (Thur.) 2017, Minister Seko visited Moscow, Russia. He held meetings with First Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov, H.E. Mr. Maksim Stanislavovich Oreshkin, Minister of Economic Development, H.E. Ms. Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko, Chairperson of the Council of the Federation, and H.E. Mr. Denis Valentinovich Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade. In addition, he also held the second meeting of the Japan-Russia Energy Initiative Council with Minister Novak.

1) Meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov and Minister Oreshkin

In the afternoon of January 11, Minister Seko held a meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov and Minister Oreshkin. At the meeting, both sides discussed measures for the steady and swift advancement of the eight-point cooperation plan.*

2) Meeting with Chairperson Matvienko (Federation Council) and other officials

In the morning of January 12, Minister Seko and lawmakers from the Japan-Russia Members Association under the Liberal Democratic Party in the House of Councilors of Japan held a meeting with Chairperson Matvienko and other officials. Both sides confirmed further strengthening of Japan-Russia exchange among lawmakers and exchanged views concerning the further development of inter-community cooperation.

3) Meeting with Minister Manturov

In the morning of January 12, Minister Seko held a meeting with Minister Manturov. Concerning Item 5 of promoting industrial diversification and enhancing productivity in Russia in the plan, both sides made discussions concerning the productivity diagnosis of Russian companies, approaches to advancing human resource development projects in the supporting industry, and other issues.

Meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov

Meeting with Minister Manturov

4) Second meeting of the Japan-Russia Energy Initiative Council

In the afternoon of January 12, Minister Seko held the second meeting of the Japan-Russia Energy Initiative Council with Minister Novak and confirmed that both sides will advance cooperation to promptly specify the details of the cooperation projects in three fields of hydrocarbon, nuclear power, and energy efficiency and renewable energy, which were concluded between Japan and Russia during President Putin's visit to Japan in December 2016.

Japan-Russia Energy Initiative Council

*Note: Details of the eight-point cooperation plan
1. Extending length of healthy living, 2. Developing comfortable and clean cities that are easy to live in and support active lives, 3. Fundamentally expanding exchanges and cooperation among small and medium-sized companies, 4. Energy, 5. Promoting industrial diversification and enhancing productivity in Russia, 6. Developing industries and export bases in the Far East, 7. Cooperating on advanced technologies, and 8. Fundamentally expanding people-to-people exchanges

Release date

January 23, 2017

Divisions in Charge

Information on the visit to India:Southwest Asia Office, Trade Policy BureauInformation on the visit to Russia:Europe Division, Trade Policy BureauInformation on the energy forum:International Affairs Office, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy