Kobe: Authorities from the Japanese city of Kobe on Thursday exchanged a Letter of Intent (LoI) with their counterparts in Ahmedabad for a sister city partnership, which will pave the way for an enhanced economic relationship between the two vibrant cities as well as the two countries.
The LoI was exchanged in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Kobe to address a large Indian diaspora event.
"Strengthening people-to-people ties. PM @narendramodi witnessed the exchange of Letter of Intent on Ahmedabad-Kobe Sister City Partnership at Kobe," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
In November 2016, Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe inked a sister-state relationship MoU for Gujarat and Hyogo prefecture. Kobe is the capital city of Hyogo. That time, Modi had also visited a bullet train plant in Kobe.
The MoU sought to promote mutual cooperation between Gujarat and Hyogo in the fields of academics, business, cultural cooperation, disaster management and environmental protection.
Earlier in the day, addressing the Indian diaspora, Modi said, "Today there is no such part of India where Japan's projects or investments have not left its mark. Similarly, talent and manpower of India are contributing to strengthening Japan."
"There was a time when we were collaborating in building cars and today we are collaborating in building a bullet train," said Modi, who is here to attend the G20 Summit to be held in Osaka from Friday.
India is planning to run its first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad with Japan's help. The first stretch of the ambitious project is expected to be completed by 2022.
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