The Hindu : New Delhi News : High praise for Narayanan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 08, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

High praise for Narayanan

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 7. A 19-member delegation of the Foreign Exchange Committee (FEC) of Japan yesterday called on the former President, K. R. Narayanan, at his residence here, to express appreciation of his efforts to improve Indo-Japanese ties.

A member of the delegation and former Ambassador to India, Chusei Yamada, said Mr. Narayanan shared an old relationship with Japan. After his first posting in Myanmar, where he married his wife Usha, the couple moved to Tokyo. It was during his stay in Tokyo as Second Secretary that Mr. Narayanan had a daughter, who is now India's Ambassador to Sweden.

Mr. Yamada said he was the Ambassador to India when Mr. Narayanan became Vice-President. He wanted Mr. Narayanan to visit Japan as a state guest on his becoming President. But, for some reason that did not happen. Also, in the following years, the focus of Japan shifted more to China as a business partner.

The semi-government FEC had hence invited Mr. Narayanan and his wife to Japan in October this year and conferred an honorary doctorate on the former President.

Mr Yamada said the visit by the FEC delegation assumed significance as India was again being seen as a land of opportunity by Japan which had earlier preferred to trade with China.

Mr. Narayanan said Japanese business now saw India as a good place to do business and so there was "renewed interest'. He expressed the hope that the visit by the delegation would help improve business and bilateral relations between the two countries.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi