A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony was held between Textiles Committee, Ministry of Textiles and Nissenken Quality Evaluation Centre Japan.
The MoU is to provide required support to textile’s trade and industry for ensuring quality as per the requirement of Japanese buyers through testing, inspection & conformity assessment, training & capacity building, R&D and consultancy.
The MoU is also expected to strengthen the bilateral trade by enhancing India’s export of textile and apparels to Japan, which is the third largest export destination of the world.
India is 6th largest exporter and there is huge untapped potential for trade which remains unharnessed.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister in its meeting held on 2 September 2020 had given the approval for signing of a MoU between the two organisations.
The signing ceremony was presided over by Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani on the Indian side and Yasumasa Nagasaka, State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Govt. of Japan from the Japanese side.
This MoU will formalise mutual interaction and strengthen the relationship in accordance with their respective areas of specialisation.
Both the institutions have agreed to share and exchange relevant technical information and documentation on a regular basis and carry out activities relating to standards, quality assurance norms, joint research projects on testing, development of user-friendly tools for dissemination of data to the industry and facilitate sourcing across the textiles value chain (TVC) from both the countries.
Smriti Irani highlighted the challenge relating to stringent quality standards for exports to Japan and expressed confidence that the MoU will help in creating awareness on the various quality parameters being sought by the importers based in Japan and extending hand-holding support to the Indian exporters to adopt and upgrade their technology so as to enhance the quality of products and satisfy the stipulations as required by the Japanese importers.
The Japanese State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Yasumasa Nagasaka highlighted that India is a huge market for Japanese industry and expressed confidence that going forward, there will be substantial development in the India-Japan trade relationship.
