Create enabling environment to woo Japanese investors: Jaishankar tells Assam

GUWAHATI:

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has asked Assam to create an enabling environment of better infrastructure, good connectivity and trained human resources to attract more Japanese companies and businessmen to the state.

Speaking to newsmen here on Monday, Jaishankar said, “You need more connectivity like roads, railways, bridges and waterways for resources to come and goods to leave. For Assam to have more Japanese investments, it has to have infrastructure that appeals to Japanese businesses and has trained manpower that can respond to their requirements.”

The Union Minister further said that industrial infrastructure and townships with which Japanese companies are comfortable with would certainly interest more and more investors from that country to invest in Assam.

“Besides, I also feel that more discussions and sessions are needed with Japanese companies so that the plus points of Assam can be shared with them,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Jaishankar along with the Ambassador of Japan to India, Satoshi Suzuki reviewed the progress of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded Guwahati water supply project site along the Brahmaputra here.

The Embassy of Japan in India, in a social media post, also said that clean water and hygiene have become even more important after COVID-19. “Japan is proud to support this important project and hopes to see water flows to many households in Guwahati the near future,” it posted.

The Union Minister also took to his official Twitter handle to state, “Strong cooperation with Japan has made a difference to India, specifically to the development of Assam. Act East must begin by giving the necessary attention and resources to our own states in the East and North-East.”

(Edited by Laxmi Chyrmang)