Ambani, Adani, Kalyani to be part of PM Modi's delegation to Japan

New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and 15 other leading industrialists will be part of the delegation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his first major bilateral visit, outside the sub-continent, to Japan this week. The industrialists will take part in a bilateral meeting under the aegis of India-Japan Business Leaders’ Forum (IJBLF) on 1 September which would be co-chaired by Chairman of Bharat Forge Baba Kalyani, sources said. [caption id=“attachment_1685107” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for Japan on 30 August. AFP[/caption] The meeting, coinciding with Modi’s visit, assumes high importance as the two countries are trying to forge a strong multifaceted strategic partnership with economic relations as a crucial component. Bilateral trade between the two reached $18.61 billion in 2012-13. Sources said Modi keen on meeting his counterpart Shinzo Abe whose leadership he deeply respects and sees the visit as an opportunity to take ties with Japan to a new level and increase cooperation in various fields. To leverage the ever-growing trade and investment between the two countries and for greater co-operation between their businesses, IJBLF was constituted with prominent business leaders from India as its members. The forum has been re-constituted recently and Modi re-nominated Kalyani as the co-chair of the forum from the Indian side. The delegation also includes Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Essar Group Chairman Shashi Ruia, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji and Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava. Two prominent women in the delegation will include Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon and Chanda Kochhar of ICICI Bank are also on the list. OIL India Chairman and Managing Director Sunil K Srivasatava and his counterpart in ONGC Dinesh K Sarraf would also be part of the delegation. The members of the delegation are expected to reach Tokyo by afternoon of 31 August. PTI