Japanese car maker, Suzuki Motor Corporation on Wednesday offered to train 500 youth from Gujarat for its proposed extended manufacturing facility near Becharaji in the state.
This was proposed to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a visit to Japan, by Osamu Suzuki, chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation. Both had an interaction at the car maker’s headquarters in Hamamatsu, Japan, a state government statement said. "Around 500 workers would travel to Japan and will be trained, after which they would work in the Gujarat plant," Suzuki said during interaction with Modi.
Suzuki hosted a lunch in the honour of Modi and discussed investment opportunities in India. He also assured the chief minister to bring more industrialists to Gujarat in the near future, a state government release said.
He also credited Modi for the swiftness with which projects were cleared in Gujarat, the statement further said.
Adding further, Suzuki stated that he remembers Gujarat as the land of Gandhi and that Gujarat offers excellent infrastructure, peace and locational advantage. Suzuki had personally requested Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) to add Hamamatsu as one of the places Modi would visit, the statement claimed. Modi also visited Suzuki auto plant in Hamamatsu and met Indian engineers based there.
Interestingly, Modi's Japan visit was linked as an effort to woo Suzuki Motors to shifting parts of Maruti Suzuki India's Manesar unit to Gujarat in wake of the labour unrest there.
The state government had termed the reports as figment of imagination. Maruti has signed a state support agreement (SSA) with the state government for purchase of land near Mehsana and would invest Rs 4,000 crore in the first phase to set up a 250,000 units per annum plant by 2015-16.