Globetrotting CM aims to woo Japanese investors

Globetrotting CM aims to woo Japanese investors
Fadnavis to visit Japan in Sept, his sixth foreign tour after taking over as CM last year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not the only Indian neta globetrotting these days. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis – Modi’s party colleague – has already visited five countries in the first year of his tenure, and has now lined up a trip to Japan from September 9-13, to inaugurate a statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at Wakayama city.

Fadnavis is also scheduled to meet leaders and businessmen in Tokyo and Osaka, where he will pitch for investments in Maharashtra, and visit the Yokohama port.

The state tourism development corporation is also scheduled to organise an event in Japan during the chief minister’s visit to promote Buddhist centres in Maharashtra.

Soon after he took over as chief minister, Fadnavis accompanied Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to Davos in the US to participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos.

This was followed by a trip to Germany with Modi himself, from April 12 to April 16 this year. Ten days later, Fadnavis was in Israel from April 26 to 29 to study agricultural techniques and get investment. He visited China between May 14 and 18, and announced that electronics giant Foxconn will invest $5 billion in Maharashtra over the next five years. Fadnavis was again on an official tour to the US between June 29 and July 6.

The chief minister will accompanied by principal secretary Praveen Pardeshi, chief protocol officer Sumit Mallik, state tourism secretary Valsa Nair Singh, and Bhushan Gagrani, the CEO of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation.

“The Centre has adopted the ‘Look East Policy’, and there is a lot of potential (for investment) as far as Japan is concerned. We have already got Japanese investment and we will look for more,” Gagrani said.

Paraag Jaiin Nainutia, MD of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, said roadshows have been planned at Tokyo and Osaka to highlight the state. “We will tie up with the tour operators in Japan. The main event is planned at Ginza Square in Tokyo, where we will showcase Maharashtra,” he said.