“Japan has helped train approximately 24,000 young Indians over the past seven years through Japanese-style manufacturing programs,” Okumura said at the summit, adding her country has supported India’s metro systems, high-speed rail, and dedicated freight corridors through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
She said the Japan-India economic partnership is entering “a new phase.” Okumura described a jointly developed action plan created last year by JETRO, CII and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India, calling it a framework built after analysing the “strengths and vulnerability of both countries.” She said the plan aims at strengthening economic security and expanding bilateral collaboration.
“I am confident that Japan and India can create strong synergies by working together and building on each other’s strengths,” Okumura said, adding the two nations must increase joint investment in areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, solar energy and battery technologies.
India’s position as a global hub for information technology (IT), engineering, and research and development (R&D), she argued, places it in a unique position to complement Japan’s technological prowess. “By bringing together the respective strengths of Japan and India in technology, research and innovation, we can create significantly greater value,” she said, noting that the growth of global capability centres is already driving that shift.
For Japanese companies, she said, India has evolved beyond being a low-cost destination. “India is increasingly becoming not just a cost-efficient location but a strategic partner that plays a central role in value creation and innovation,” she said. But for this cooperation to be sustainable, both countries must focus on strengthening intellectual-property protection and preventing technology leakage, Okumura said. Creating an environment where innovation can be shared confidently, she said, will help “strengthen mutual trust” between the two nations.
Okumura pointed to the more than 170 memoranda of understanding signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan in August last year as evidence of the expanding partnership. The agreements cover a wide range of sectors, including semiconductors, IT and artificial intelligence (AI), hydrogen, startups and healthcare.
“The next stage is to translate these agreements into substantive collaboration in advanced industries,” she said.