In the wake of the State Government's efforts to bring international experts to Jharkhand for development purposes, a high-level delegation of the Japan Council of local Authorities for International Relations (ClAIR) and Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) led by Hashimoto Kenjiro, Executive Director of ClAIR, Singapore and Kazuya Nakajo, Chief Director General, JETRO held a meeting with senior government officials here on Monday.
Urban Development department Additional Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Singh and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Sunil Kumar Barnwal sought support from ClAIR in materialising the proposed association between the local Governments in Japan and Jharkhand for the proposed areas of interest. ClAIR informed them that they are Government-affiliated foundations which support the internationalisation efforts of local Governments in Japan.
Hashimoto assured that the ClAIR would extend the best possible support to the Government of Jharkhand in materialising the proposed associations. ClAIR representatives said that they will put the details of the areas of interest for each of the proposed cities of Jharkhand on their homepage so that the corresponding cities in the proposed prefectures can match their mutual interests.
During the meeting, the roadmap for establishing the Japanese language school was also discussed. Higher and Technical Education department Secretary Ajoy Kumar Singh informed that Ranchi University is starting the Japanese language course in August 2018 and requested support of Japan in framing the Japanese language curriculum, sourcing the Japanese language teachers and placing the student in Japanese companies. The representative of JETRO informed that there is a great demand of professionals from India having proficiency in Japanese language and they had organized job fairs wherein students with Japanese language skill were hired by Japanese companies. JETRO assured to provide necessary support in coordination with Japan foundation.
Barnwal also discussed about connecting Itkhori to the Buddha Circuit and looks for support from ClAIR and JETRO in promoting tourism in this region.
Commissioner of Ranchi Municipal Corporation, Shantanu Kumar Agarahari, made a detailed presentation to the delegation and highlighted the key functions of RMC such as services offered to citizens, city development strategy and major reforms being undertaken in the area of sanitation, tax collection, traffic management etc. The key areas where Japanese expertise can be helpful for RMC are municipal governance, public transport, solid waste management, capacity building of municipal staff, urban planning.
Notably, Japan was the partner country in Momentum Jharkhand Global Investor Summit 2017. A delegation led by CM Raghubar Das also visited Japan in October 2017 to express gratitude for being the partner country and explore the areas of further cooperation. Both Japan and Jharkhand have discussed many areas of mutual cooperation and have taken various initiatives to develop the cultural and economic ties.