Japan PM visit: pact glitch and wife’s love for sari
While trade, investment security and defence cooperation top the agenda of Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s visit to India, his wife Miyuki Hatoyama, a one-time actor, is keen on exploring Indian life, including wearing a sari and visiting the film city, reports Jayanth Jacob.
While trade, investment security and defence cooperation top the agenda of Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s visit to India, his wife Miyuki Hatoyama, a one-time actor, is keen on exploring Indian life, including wearing a sari and visiting the film city.
Though the annual summit is expected to give a new high to the bilateral ties when Hatoyama meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 29, there are glitches remaining in the showpiece Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) — for which the negotiations began in 2007 — with regard to the services, officials said.
The Japan Prime Minister and his wife will be arriving in Mumbai on December 27.
Ahead of the visit, Miyuki evinced her interest in wearing a sari, an official in the Japanese embassy said. If she decides to wear one, there are few occasions that may present her with the opportunity: The programmes include paying homage to terror victims, a meeting with business leaders, and a dinner hosted by the governor.
Miyuki will be visiting film city. She was an actor in the all-female Takarazuka Revue, a musical theater troupe, during the 1960s.
In Delhi, she wants to visit an “Indian temple” and a “slum area”, the official said.
Trade, investment, defence and security cooperation will figure major in the bilateral discussions. But officials said that there are still glitches in CEPA that both countries are trying to conclude at the earliest.
An official said that “a mutually agreeable” mutual recognition agreements (MRA) and “withholding tax” are two areas where the talks are being focused to sort out the differences for the proposed CEPA.
As per the MRA, India and Japan have to accept each other’s professionals, with educational qualifications in each others country. IT, medical services, accounting services are the services under the MRA.
The 15 per cent “withholding tax” a share of the “payment” being held by the employer on account of taxes is a discouraging factor for Indian professionals.
