インド共和国記念日における森喜朗会長祝辞

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　January 26th, 2010
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Yoshiro Mori
　On the occasion of the 61st Republic Day of India, I wish to convey to the Government and the people of India the warmest congratulations from all the members of the Japan-India Association which I represent.
　I am gratified to note that the last year has again witnessed the increasing weight of India, both political and economic, in the international society as well as the accelerated development of Japan-India bilateral relations in all its aspects.
　I would like to stress that in spite of the change of government in Japan, our relations continue to flourish. Prime Minister Mr. Yukio Hatoyama managed to make a visit to India towards the very end of the year, honoring the two governments’ commitment to exchange the prime ministers’ visits to each other in the framework of Japan-India Strategic Global Partnership.
　On the bilateral front, I am happy to note that two big projects between our two countries, namely the construction of the Delhi-Mumbai Dedicated Freight Corridor and the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor have reached the stage of implementation from that of planning and that other Japanese ODA projects in India, including urban Metro-system construction projects in Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata in addition to Delhi, are all on the right truck. To be noted also is the increase of Japanese direct investment to India which resulted, in 2009, in the presence of around 630 Japanese companies all over India.
　As both Prime Ministers, Mr. Hatoyama and Dr. Manmohan Singh, agreed in December in New Delhi to accelerate the negotiations for the expedited conclusion of Japan-India Economic Partnership Agreement, I hope that the EPA will be concluded as soon as possible so that our mutual trade which is lagging behind will be able to leap forward.
　Increased number of Indian IT engineers and other business people visit and stay in Japan. There exist already a few important clusters of Indian people in Japan in such places as Nishikasai in Eastern Tokyo in addition to Yokohama and Kobe. Indian restaurants are mushrooming in major cities in Japan.
　Cooperation in science and technology is gaining further momentum. Cultural exchanges between the two countries are expanding and deepening. The promised project to launch a new IIT in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, is on-going.
　On the multilateral front, our two countries are destined to jointly contribute to the global community by cooperating for the solution of such global problems as nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation of mass-destruction weapons, prevention of climate change, reform of the United Nation Security Council.
　The Japan-India Association, with its weight of 107 years history and the spirit of dedication, is determined not to spare any effort for further betterment of our very important relationship.
　On this auspicious occasion, let me pray that the excellent Japan-India relationship bring more happiness to our two peoples and that the two nations contribute to the peace and prosperity of the international community at large.

　このメッセージは1月26日付“ジャパンタイムズ” “デーリーヨミウリ” “アサヒシンブン” “ザニッケイ”に掲載される予定です