Importance of harnessing full benefits of India-Japan CEPA highlighted
Department of Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal has held a series of meetings and has highlighted significant potential for growth in Indian exports to Japan in sectors such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and services https://fieo.org/.
He also underlined the importance of achieving a more balanced bilateral trade relationship to ensure long-term sustainability at the meetings, held alongside the 7th Joint Committee Meeting under the India–Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
The Commerce Secretary further engaged with leading representatives of Japanese industry during a roundtable interaction https://www.nseindia.com/.
A Trade and Investment Roadshow was organized by the Embassy of India in Japan in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), focusing on promoting trade from India and facilitating greater investment flows from Japanese companies.
Held on 2 March 2026 in Tokyo, Agrawal also reviewed with his Japanese counterparts issues relating to the implementation of the CEPA and deliberated on ways to further strengthen bilateral economic engagement.
He stressed the importance of harnessing the full benefits of the CEPA, including the movement of natural persons as envisaged during the Leaders’ Summit https://www.bseindia.com/.
Agrawal also emphasized the strong complementarities between the two economies—Japan’s strengths in technology, capital, and advanced manufacturing, and India’s skilled workforce, large market, and rapidly growing economy https://sbi.com.in/.
Agrawal emphasized that the CEPA provides a stable framework ensuring tariff certainty and regulatory predictability, thereby fostering a facilitative environment for deeper collaboration between India and Japan as trusted partners in global value and supply chains https://www.commerce.gov.in/.
Broadly, a wide range of issues were discussed in Tokyo, including bilateral trade and investment, improving the business environment and the upcoming 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on 4 Mar of the Secretary visit to Japan. Fiinews.com
