পরমাণু চুক্তি একমাত্র লক্ষ্য নয়, ভারত-জাপান সম্পর্কে কোন চ্যালেঞ্জের কথা বললেন জয়শঙ্কর?

Oneindia Bengali

পরমাণু চুক্তি থেকে পর্যটন ক্ষেত্রে ভারতীয় পর্যটকদের অবদান, বেশ কিছু গুরুত্বপূর্ণ বিষয় নিয়ে আলোচনা করলেন বিদেশ মন্ত্রী এস জয়শঙ্কর  ~ED.1~

Transcript

00:00What are the three challenges that you might encounter?

00:05If you look at all the other big relationships that have changed for us,

00:10you know, look at the American relationship, look at the Australian relationship.

00:15You need a nuclear deal, basically.

00:17Some equivalent…

00:19Well, a big ticket agreement between…

00:23No, not necessarily.

00:25You know, I… look, everything doesn't happen with a big bank.

00:29The H-1B was actually as impactful as the nuclear deal,

00:34which is not to say the nuclear deal wasn't a huge achievement.

00:37Not having problems can also be,

00:40we are both being happy in the same room, but it stays there.

00:45If you are looking at the flip side of this relationship,

00:51what are the three challenges that you might encounter

00:57or that we might encounter and how do we guard against that?

01:04Well, Indrani, I think the main challenge in a way you have yourself implied.

01:12I mean, we've… I mean, we've never had problems between India and Japan.

01:17But not having problems doesn't mean everything works well, you know.

01:22Not having problems can also be, we are both being happy in the same room,

01:27but it stays there, you know.

01:31So, we need something more.

01:35So, you know, I would say, how do you take good sentiment

01:42and make it into a practical plan?

01:47I think it's that journey which, you know,

01:51which has been a challenge for the relationship.

01:56And the kind of things that I described to you,

02:00which is really a deepening of business,

02:04more interest in, you know, as I say, in education, in internships.

02:10You know, I feel tourism, you know, again.

02:13I mean, when I look today at the kind of spike in Indian tourists,

02:19you know, we are in India, I mean, for the benefit of our Japanese colleagues,

02:25I must tell you the foreign ministry issues the passport.

02:29So, I have a good sense of how many passports we issue every year.

02:34And our passport issuer is going up actually at the rate of almost 10 to 15% a year.

02:40And we are issuing pretty much between about 13 million to 15 million passports every year.

02:47And these are 10-year validity, so you can imagine accumulated what it's doing.

02:52In this country, foreign travel is growing.

02:54Interest in foreign tourism is growing.

02:57But we haven't yet seen any of this really directed at Japan.

03:01You know, if you look at Southeast Asia today,

03:06look at Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, look at the Gulf, look at Europe,

03:10you know, Indian tourists are really going there in very, very large numbers.

03:14So, this, you know, how that part of it, as I said, good sentiment,

03:22not yet, doesn't automatically translate into practical activity, that is challenge number one.

03:29Challenge number two, the supporting activities, you know, more tourism, more education,

03:37and even incoming tourists is, you know, we are not seeing that kind of numbers yet.

03:43And I would say, in a way, for me, the third issue is a belief that the government,

03:52you know, somehow governments are going to build this relationship.

03:57Now, governments can lead this relationship.

03:59They can shape the relationship.

04:01But if you look at all the other big relationships that have changed for us,

04:07you know, look at the American relationship, look at the Australian relationship,

04:11look at the Gulf relationship.

04:13They've also changed because, you know, the government has given the signal,

04:19but there's a huge societal kind of backup which has happened.

04:26And if we, you know, this relationship needs that kind of backup.

04:30And that's really when you can, we can actually get it moving.

04:35You need a nuclear deal, basically.

04:39Some equivalent.

04:40Well, a big ticket agreement between India.

04:45No, not necessarily.

04:47You know, I look, everything doesn't happen with a big bank, you know.

04:52I think often you can get, even that I would argue is a bit overstated.

04:58I mean, if you ask me, I mean, she's referring to the nuclear deal with America,

05:04which we did, which was a turning point in the relationship.

05:07But I would argue that H1B was actually as impactful as the nuclear deal.

05:12And in many ways, much more long lasting than the nuclear deal.

05:16Which is not to say the nuclear deal wasn't a huge achievement.

05:21So, you know, relationships do not develop necessarily through quantum jumps.

05:31They can also develop layer by layer, bit by bit, things happening.

05:36And I think we have not looked, in the past, when we say, okay, we need better relations

05:42with Japan, everybody says, oh, that means more investment.

05:46Answer is yes.

05:47But just saying, you know, there should be more investment, A, doesn't make that investment

05:52happen.

05:53And B, even if some of that happens, isn't good enough.

05:56I think we need the rest of the supporting activities.

06:02And there are models.

06:05I mean, when I look at Japan's relationship with Southeast Asia, when I look at Japan's

06:10relationship with its own neighbors in Northeast Asia, I think there are lessons for us.

06:16That when I look at the kind of student numbers from those countries, when I look at the number

06:21of tourists from those countries, look at the number of flights from those countries,

06:26hotels from those countries, those are all, you know, missing pieces in our relationship.

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