TANAKA Akihiko

JICA President Akihiko Tanaka talks with Indian Finance Minister Chidambaram Shri Palaniappan.

In India this week, JICA President Akihiko Tanaka met with key government figures, scholars and Japanese business executives during a three-day visit to promote stronger ties between Japan and India, one of the world’s economic and population powerhouses.

He also gave a keynote address at a university seminar and visited the Okhla Sewerage Treatment Plant, a Japanese ODA loan project.

India, which has the world's second largest population and Asia's third-largest economy, is one of the largest partners in Japan's development cooperation. Tanaka spent his time in New Delhi and Chennai.

Arriving June 17, Tanaka held talks in New Delhi with Finance Minister Chidambaram Shri Palaniappan. They agreed to expeditiously and steadily carry out JICA cooperation projects, including the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project, which aims to build up industrial zones and related infrastructure across six states. They also agreed that the relevant Indian agencies would strengthen their efforts and coordination to smoothly implement those projects.

JICA President Akihiko Tanaka visits the Okhla Sewerage Treatment Plant, which was built with a Japanese ODA loan.

Tanaka said JICA would like to strengthen its cooperation, including technical cooperation and the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, in a broad range of fields, and Chidambaram agreed. So far, JICA mainly has cooperated on infrastructure projects in the country.

Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, chief minister of Tamil Nadu state, met with Tanaka on June 19 in Chennai, the state capital, and they agreed to advance projects related to further encouraging investment in the state, into which Japanese companies have already expanded.

In his seminar at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi on June 18, Tanaka gave a keynote address on JICA's cooperation and future Japan-India relations, as well as on the role of India in the Indian Ocean region. After the address, there was a lively exchange of opinions between Tanaka and participating scholars, as well as a question and answer session.

JICA President Akihiko Tanaka speaks at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

During his stay, Tanaka held a news conference with members of the Japanese media and had a couple of interviews with the Indian media both in New Delhi and in Chennai.

Tanaka also took advantage of the opportunity to exchange opinions with Japanese business people based in the two cities.