India aims to become 5 trillion dollar economy says PM

AGENCIES / KOBE (JAPAN)

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that the ties between India and Japan will become stronger in ‘New India’ and will become more robust as India aims to become a 5 trillion dollar economy in the next five years.

Addressing the Indian community in the Japanese city of Kobe this evening, the Prime Minister said, Japan has played an important role in India’s economic development and relations have become stronger from the time of cooperating to make a car to manufacture the bullet trains.

Mr Modi said talent and manpower of India are also contributing to strengthen Japan. He said digital Literacy is growing very fast and a huge infrastructure is being prepared for innovation and incubation.

Mr Modi said this is his fourth trip to Japan as Prime Minister and during the visits, he has observed that making talent and technology is a part of nation-building in Japan.

Quoting from Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings, Mr Modi said, very few people know that Gandhi’s choice for the three monkeys was inspired from Japan.

Prime Minister Modi thanked the Indian diaspora for being part of the world’s largest democratic process, which saw the participation of 61 crore voters.

He said the present mandate to his government has been given to meet the expectations and aspirations of New India which will give new vigour and energy to our relationships with the other nations.

Prime Minister also witnessed the exchange of Letter of Intent on Ahmedabad – Kobe Sister City Partnership.

After arriving in Osaka this morning, the Prime Minister held a bilateral meeting with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit, which begins tomorrow. Mr Modi expressed his gratitude to Mr Abe for the warm welcome accorded to the Indian delegation.

Mentioning that Mr Abe was the first friend to congratulate him after his party won in the general elections, Mr Modi wished Japanese people on the commencement of Reiwa era.

Prime Minister also said that he was looking forward to the visit of Mr Abe to India later this year for the Annual Summit.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, later told the media that both the leaders discussed different aspects of Indo-Japan relations and agreed to expand the strategic template of the relationship between the two countries.