Interactive Meeting with Japanese Parliamentary Delegation led by Shinsuke Okuno, May 4, 2005

The India-Japan Forum of Parliamentarians (IJFP) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) convened a meeting with Japanese Members of Parliament on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 at Hotel Nikko. The Japanese delegation, headed by Shinsuke Okuno, comprised Osamu Uno, Ichiro Miyashita, and Minoru Terada. They were accompanied by researchers, and other persons related to the Research and Policy Institute, a think tank of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. These included Toshio Nakamura, Tetsuya Nagae, Yoshinobu Kato, Yoshihiro Kayukawa, Masafumi Nomoto, Suguru Isoda, Akihisa Heike, and Shinichi Hayase. Mr. Ashwani Kumar, Chairman of IJFP, presided over the meeting. The meeting was well attended by Indian Parliamentarians such as Dinesh Trivedi, P.K. Maheshwari, Shahid Siddiqui, A.R. Shaheen, R.C.S. Reddy, Raashid Alvi, Preneet Kaur, K.B. Krishnamurthy, and Rayapati S. Rao. The officials present from the Embassy of Japan were Masato Takaoka, Political Minister, Yuki Sakai, First Secretary, Ryoichi Horie, Hiroyuki Terasaki, and Keiji Kamiyama. Senior FICCI officials present at the meeting were Dr. Amit Mitra (Secretary-General, FICCI) and Ramesh Chandran (Executive Director, Forums of Parliamentarians).

Welcoming the Japanese delegation, Mr. Ashwani Kumar, spoke of the joint declaration issued during Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to India in April, 2005. He said, "The common interests and goals of India and Japan will be instrumental in bringing Asia at the center of global politics." Mr. Kumar contemplated strategic, military, and political cooperation along with close economic ties between India and Japan. He also expressed that the IJFP was committed to making a purposive contribution to bringing India and Japan together with the involvement and assistance of the Japanese Ambassador, the External Affairs Ministry, and FICCI.

Mr. Shinsuke Okuno dwelled on the respective sets of problems faced by the two countries and remarked on Japan's GDP being ten times that of India, although India's population is about eight times that of Japan. As a consequence of the joint statement signed by the Prime Ministers of the two countries, he identified two key areas, namely, infrastructure and technology, for cooperation between India and Japan. Asserting the fact that in previous discussions, there had been some critical remarks about the Japanese not being able to speak adequate English, Mr. Okuno confessed that there was a certain amount of stagnation in the Japanese educational system, which needed to be addressed.

Mr. Terada spoke at large about the after effects of the nuclear holocaust in Hiroshima during World War II and proposed complete nuclear disarmament.

Laying an impetus on Indo-Japanese collaboration, Mr. Shaheen said, "We are making history that the two great countries are now expected to work together for the better future of Asia and the world." He called the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the greatest devastation of the world. Speaking on the ongoing nuclear arms race, he stated that India was heading towards a major breakthrough in this respect with assistance from Japan, Pakistan, and the SAARC countries, and subsequently, a strong message of nuclear disarmament could be given to the world.

Commenting on the progress made on the path of nuclear deterrence, Preneet Kaur said, "I'm happy that the world is progressing and the message of peace is going and we as responsible citizens cannot play with this energy." On her query as to the effect of radioactivity after the atom bombings in Japan, Akihisa Heike, researcher in the Japanese Research and Policy Institute explained that from the genetic point of view, the effect on plants, animals, and human beings would last for another fifteen years.

Talking on behalf of the common people of India, Ashwani Kumar upheld Japan as a great Asian country. He further went on to say that in spite of the destruction that Japan witnessed after World War II, it has undergone a colossal transformation and has emerged as a technically modernized and economically sound nation, and that this was a commendable achievement.

Mr. Reddy made a brief comment, expressing his opinion that India and Japan would always compliment each other and that there was no element of competition between the two entities.

Finally, Mr. Onusa, while expressing concern over the prevalent worldwide nuclear arms race, said that Japan being the only country affected by the nuclear bomb, would never possess nuclear weapons because the aftermath would be the extinction of mankind.

Ashwani Kumar, in agreement with this perspective, concluded by saying that, "A new world order is emerging after 9/11, whereby India and Japan with the same philosophy and objectives in mind can work very closely."