Ahmedabad, Jul 6 (NIE): On a day when 10 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed between Gujarat government and Japanese firms, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said Thursday that the state government will attract over Rs 20,000 crore worth Japanese investment by 2020.

“Japanese firms have invested USD 1 billion in Gujarat and by 2020 they are expected to scale it up to USD 3 billion. Whatever help is required from our side, we will provide…,” said Rupani while inaugurating a business support centre of Japanese External Trade Organisation (JETRO) at Ahmedabad. This is the fifth such office in the country after Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.

Rupani pointed out various initiatives that the state government has provided to Japanese industries in Gujarat which includes setting up of the first Japanese Industrial Park at Mandal in Ahmedabad district. “GIDC has acquired 273 hectares and reserved it to set up a vendor park for Maruti Suzuki at Bhagapura in Ahmedabad. We have started a Japanese Industrial Township at Khoraj near Sanand,” Rupani said at the event, where the CEO of JETRO, Hiroyuki Ishige was also present.

JETRO’s new business support centre is designed to support Japanese firms, especially SMEs to set up business in Gujarat. Ishige said that the total MOUs signed from late 2017 amount to Rs 38.4 billion and will help create employment for more than 6,000 persons. Though the details of the MoUs signed on Thursday were not shared “due to confidentiality agreement”, he later said that most of them belonged to the automotive sector.

9 Israeli farm practices to be used in state

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, on Thursday, chaired a high-level committee to assess his recent six-day Israel visit and the committee decided to start pilot projects on at least nine best agriculture practices of Israel in the state, an official release stated.