By IANS,
Kolkata : The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Japan will be signed Aug 1 if all goes well, Japanese Ambassador Akitaka Saiki said Friday.
“Process has already been initiated for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Japan. If all things go well then we will be able to introduce CEPA on Aug 1,” Saiki said at a programme organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.
“I think the CEPA will encourage more trade and investment between the two countries,” he said, adding Japanese investment in India currently stood at $10 billion.
“Japan recognises strategic importance of India. A meeting will be held shortly between the officers of economic affairs of the two countries,” he said.
Currently, exports from India to Japan are 2.2 percent of India’s entire export, while exports from Japan to India stood at 0.9 percent of Japan’s total export.
Stating that the Japanese government had made all out efforts to ensure that no radiation came out from nuclear power plants after the massive tsunami in the country March 11, which claimed about 13,000 lives, Saiki said: “Tokyo is safe now. Japan welcomes business people, tourists and student from India.”
Fruits and vegetables were not contaminated, he said adding they cleared the tests for domestic use as well as for export.