Provided by Kyodo News
Public- and private-sector delegates from India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh and Japan's Yamanashi Prefecture met in the Indian capital on Wednesday to discuss ways to expand cooperation in clean energy, manufacturing and human resources development.
"What Yamanashi can offer is not equipment, but experience in producing hydrogen from renewable energy, storing it and using it at industrial sites," Yamanashi Gov. Kotaro Nagasaki told a Japan-India business forum in New Delhi. He led a delegation of more than 200 businesspeople and officials from the central Japan prefecture.
Later this week, Yamanashi is due to sign cooperation documents covering green hydrogen, tourism and human resources development with the Uttar Pradesh government and a university in the state, Nagasaki said.
Uttar Pradesh, home to more than 240 million people, is a large market with expanding industries and an established hydrogen policy, Nagasaki said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath promoted a proposed 500-acre "Japan City" near Noida International Airport as a base for Japanese manufacturers and suppliers.
A virtual groundbreaking ceremony was also held for a plant planned by Escorts Kubota, the Indian unit of Japanese farm machinery maker Kubota Corp. The project involves an investment of about $212 million and is expected to create more than 3,800 jobs, according to the state government.
The forum followed Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's July visit to India, where she and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi agreed to boost ties in semiconductors, critical minerals and artificial intelligence.
Japan is India's fifth-largest source of foreign direct investment, according to the Indian government.