FICCI's Forum of Parliamentarians heads to Japan for 'friendly exchanges'

New Delhi [India], May 11 (ANI): Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's landmark visits to Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to India and signing a range of strategic agreements including civil nuclear agreement, FICCI's India-Japan Forum of Parliamentarians will be heading for Tokyo in the second week of May 2017. The delegation led by Poonam Mahajan, Member of Parliament and Co-Chair, FICCI's India-Japan Forum of Parliamentarians will visit Tokyo and Nagoya from 14-18 May 2017. Harshavardhan Neotia, Immediate Past President, FICCI and Chair of the Forum of Parliamentarians Council and Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Past President, FICCI and Co-Chair of the Council and other senior industry representatives shall join the delegation. Other esteemed Parliamentarians include Deepender Singh Hooda, MP (INC); Prathap Simha, MP (BJP); Rabindra Kumar Jena, MP (BJD) and Conrad Sangma, MP (NPP). The delegation called on Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry on May 4th 2017 for a pre-briefing session. The delegation will have intensive interactions with Japanese policy makers, industrialists and academia, building a valuable track 2.0 dialogue on a range of issues. Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Co-Chair of FICCI Forum of Parliamentarians Council said, "This visit provides an excellent opportunity to further India-Japan relations and leverage the strategic and economic commitments agreed by top leaders. Accordingly, programme of the visit has been structured to focus on the priority areas identified by both governments." The agenda includes meetings with Japanese politicians, Japan-India Parliamentary Friendship Group, Japan-India Business Cooperation Committee (JIBCC) and JETRO amongst many others. Meetings will be followed by several site visits. The visit aims to study Japanese technology and models that are relevant for India's 'Make in India' initiative, renewable energy sector and clean technology. Highlighting the importance of this visit, Harshavardhan Neotia, Immediate Past President, FICCI and Chair of FICCI's Forum of Parliamentarians Council stated, "I am glad that this delegation is visiting at a time when there is such great emphasis on India-Japan relations. The focus of the visit would be to deliberate upon innovative ways to foster relations and to build upon the renewed enthusiasm of deeper and multifaceted cooperation between the two nations." India-Japan Forum of Parliamentarians was launched in April 2005 by the then Minister for External Affairs, Government of India. It provides a platform to interact on topical issues which impacts India-Japan bilateral relations. The forum aims to bring together MPs from across party lines to understand and appreciate various aspects of the India-Japan relationship through a dialogue with counterpart MPs, senior government officials, industry leaders, policy experts and media. (ANI)