Nagoya [Japan], August 26 (ANI): India and Japan want to make their 15-year-old Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) extra up to date and work in direction of increasing its scope to create new alternatives for bilateral commerce and financial ties, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal mentioned on Wednesday.
Responding to a query on whether or not the CEPA evaluate was mentioned throughout his assembly with Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akazawa Ryosei in Tokyo on Tuesday, Goyal mentioned the problem had already been taken up by the leaders of the 2 international locations in the course of the sixteenth India-Japan Annual Summit in New Delhi in July.
‘This challenge was mentioned between the 2 Prime Ministers within the sixteenth Summit held in Delhi,’ Goyal mentioned throughout a media interplay in Nagoya.
Referring to the joint assertion issued after the summit, Goyal mentioned, ‘Since it’s 15 years for the reason that signing of CEPA, we must always focus on and make it extra up to date.’
‘I additionally mentioned it with my counterpart minister and we hope to work in direction of additional increasing the scope and offering new alternatives for this relationship to develop,’ he added.
Goyal mentioned the 2 sides had not but begun engaged on the phrases of reference for the CEPA evaluate, however indicated that India was open to a wider engagement.
‘We have not began engaged on the phrases of reference of CEPA but, however we’re open to increasing the scope, scale and extent of engagement,’ Goyal mentioned.
The India-Japan CEPA was signed on February 16, 2011 and got here into power on August 1 that 12 months. The settlement covers commerce in items and providers, funding and different areas of financial cooperation.
The joint assertion issued after the July 2026 summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi famous that greater than 15 years had handed for the reason that two international locations signed the CEPA and underlined the necessity to improve and diversify bilateral commerce.
The two leaders agreed to speed up the evaluate of the implementation and full and efficient utilisation of the settlement to make it extra forward-looking.
Goyal’s assembly with Akazawa in Tokyo on Tuesday additionally coated bilateral commerce and funding. According to the Commerce and Industry Ministry, the 2 ministers mentioned accelerating the CEPA evaluate to make the settlement extra forward-looking and conscious of rising financial alternatives.
The two sides additionally mentioned cooperation in new and rising sectors, next-generation industries, manufacturing, expertise and innovation.
In a major growth, Goyal revealed that Uniqlo, the Japanese attire large with 3,500-4,000 shops and a turnover of USD 25 billion, is trying to begin doing enterprise from India. He mentioned the corporate’s chairman met with him and the delegation, and expressed curiosity and pleasure far higher than he had seen from some other enterprise chief he had interacted with, including that the chairman appeared virtually prepared to start sourcing from India instantly.
Goyal is on a four-day go to to Japan from August 24 to 27, overlaying Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. He is main India’s largest-ever enterprise delegation to Japan, comprising greater than 200 representatives from sectors together with manufacturing, semiconductors, clear vitality, metal, automotive, monetary providers, healthcare and start-ups.
India and Japan share a Special Strategic and Global Partnership, with financial ties more and more extending into areas together with semiconductors, synthetic intelligence, supply-chain resilience, clear vitality and superior manufacturing.
Bilateral commerce stood at round USD 27.5 billion in 2025-26, whereas Japan is India’s fifth-largest supply of overseas direct funding. The two international locations are additionally working in direction of a goal of 10 trillion yen in personal funding from Japan into India, set on the India-Japan Annual Summit in 2025. (ANI)