Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday declared Japan was no longer just an investor for Uttar Pradesh but a “co-creator” in building the state’s future as a global manufacturing and innovation hub.
A prefecture is equivalent to a state in India. In a major announcement, Kotaro Nagasaki, governor of Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture, said a ₹ 600-crore fund will be created to support investment by Yamanashi-based MSMEs in Uttar Pradesh. Yamanashi is one of the 47 prefectures in Japan.
A separate UP-Yamanashi tourism agreement was also signed to boost visitor exchange. A dedicated ‘Yamanashi Desk’ will be set up at Invest UP to hand-hold Japanese companies, coordinate with Yamanashi’s government and industries, and fast-track approvals. To plug implementation gaps, both sides will do a 90-day review of projects, land, approvals and challenges.
Calling it a strong vote of confidence, Adityanath said the partnership will now get institutional teeth. The chief minister said Japan had an exceptional legacy of industrial experience, while Uttar Pradesh had an energetic young generation ready to learn, create and lead. “Japanese precision meets UP’s scale and young talent,” the chief minister said, citing the Japanese concepts of Kaizen (continuous improvement), Monozukuri (the art, science and craft of making things) and Wa (harmony) as values UP wants to absorb. UP and Yamanashi will develop a pilot green hydrogen project in the state, the chief minister said. The chief minister said UP will aggressively market its Buddhist Circuit in Japan and participate in tourism festivals there. The chief minister said India and Japan had preserved their heritage and traditions as part of their daily lives and work cultures. Greeting the delegation in Japanese with “Konnichiwa Minasan” (hello) and ending with “Arigato Gozaimasu”(thank you very much), the chief minister said: “By 2047, we want Japanese companies in UP to say with pride: We built our global future from Uttar Pradesh.”Prominent among those present on the occasion included Yamanashi governor Kotaro Nagasaki, deputy governor Junichi Ishidera, Uttar Pradesh ministers Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’, Jaiveer Singh, Anil Rajbhar and Jaswant Saini, IIDC Deepak Kumar, and top Japanese CEOs.
