A formal Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony was held between Textiles Committee,
Ministry of Textiles, Government of India and M/s Nissenken Quality Evaluation
Centre Japan, through video conferencing on 27th January 2021.
The Union Cabinet
chaired by Prime Minister in its meeting held on 2nd September, 2020 had given
the approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two
organisations. The signing ceremony was Presided over by Minister of Textiles
and Minister of Women and Child Development , Smriti Zubin Irani on the Indian
side and by His Excellency Yasumasa Nagasaka, State Minister of Economy, Trade
and Industry, Government of Japan from the Japanese side.
The main objective of
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,
Research & Development (R&D) and Consultancy. It is expected that the MoU will strengthen
the bilateral trade by enhancing India’s export of Textile and Apparels
(T&A) to Japan, which is the third largest export destination of the world.
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.
Speaking on the
occasion of the signing ceremony, Irani fondly recalled the friendship and long
history rooted in spiritual affinity and strong cultural and civilizational
ties between India and Japan. She also extolled about the further deepening and
strengthening of the India-Japan relationship under the able leadership of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Minister further 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.
She also spoke about
the synergy in the working of the two organisations and expressed confidence
that it will inter alia boost the Technical Textiles sector as well and improve
sourcing from India. She also urged the T & A industry to make full use of
the opportunity in furthering Indian Interests.
Speaking on the
occasion, 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.
India and Japan have
signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2011 which
inter-alia facilitates import of garments from India to Japan at zero duty.
Despite CEPA, the growth in trade in Textiles and Apparel (T&A) between the
two countries has been moderate. Japan is third largest importer of T&A in
the world and India is 6th largest exporter and there is huge untapped
potential for trade which remains unharnessed.
It is in this
backdrop, a high level delegation from Ministry of Textiles was mounted in
February, 2019 with a view to enhance exports and co-operation in textile
sector and to identify areas for optimizing the benefit of CEPA. As an outcome
of these developments, the Textiles Committee entered into negotiation with M/s
Nissenken Quality Evaluation Centre, Japan for providing valuable services to
the textile trade and industry of both the countries through collaborative
efforts between the two organisations.
M/s Nissenken Quality
Evaluation Centre is one of the leading Testing and Inspection organisations in
Japan established in 1948 and providing world-class facilities and rendering
valuable services to the textiles trade and industry in Japan and 7 other
countries including China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia
and India.