A piece of wonderful news as Japan may extend a special recruitment program to the Northeast under which inhabitants of the region will be offered nursing jobs in that country. This was communicated by the outgoing Ambassador of Japan, Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu to Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh here on Monday, in their official statement.

As per the updates of the meeting, the Minister explained various projects being undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and North-eastern region under the Japanese umbrella. Singh stated about the training of Nursing Care Workers (NCW) under the Technical Intern Training Programme (TITP), through which around 12 candidates from Jammu have now been selected by Japanese companies for jobs in that country.

As Ambassador has assured to prolong the TITP program in the North-eastern region with the participation of the government of Japan, the official statement confirmed.

Also, the Minister has recommended that, in the future, 100 students can be taken under the TITP program from Ladakh and 50 each from Leh and Kargil respectively. Japanese Ambassador has contributed about three years and 11 months in India and his tenure beheld the unprecedented conversion of India-Japan relationship under the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe respectively.

It is a huge headway that has been made in the level of collaboration in various fields such as bullet trains, nuclear, space technology, and of course railways. As we are aware, Singh said Japan shares moving and historical relations with India, especially in the Northeast.

Japan has stood out in food processing units, and there are great chances for opening specialized food parks for apples, cherry, strawberry in Jammu and Kashmir and berry in Ladakh, and also citrus fruit parks in Northeast. With greater hopes Sigh said that ample engagement and investment have been done by Japan in the Northeast under the Modi government, particularly in Manipur.

With great pleasure, the Minister complimented the Japanese Ambassador for his successful tenure in India and his contribution towards recognition of the vision of the two leaders.

Adding to that, Hiramatsu’s tenure saw some major accomplishments, such as summing-up of a bilateral Nuclear Deal i.e. December, 2016, founding of Digital and Health Partnerships I.e. October, 2018, agreement on the start of Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) negotiations i.e. October, 2018, and also last but not the least agreement on Japanese Language Education in India and Disaster Risk Reduction i.e. September, 2017.

Being utmost thankful, the Minister shared his thanks towards Ambassador for his contribution in the establishment of the India-Japan Act East Forum which is an important mechanism for synergizing India’s ‘Act East Policy’ also Japanese ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Now delivering about the Act East Forum, Singh remarked that the Forum has made all the relevant stakeholders together, and synergized towards the implementation of continuing and new projects in the North-eastern region. Also, the Minister wished that Hiramatsu’s successor would maintain working with the same commitment and help in realizing the true commitment of the India-Japan Special Strategic partnership.