A joint seminar was held in Tokyo on 25^th May to discuss workforce mobility Co-operation between India and Japan. The seminar was organised jointly by the Embassy of India in Japan and ASEAN ONE Co. Ltd., Japan. Ms. Vandana Gurnani, Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India, delivered the keynote address.

The seminar brought together Japanese policymakers, industry leaders, academic institutions and workforce mobility stakeholders to discuss long-term cooperation in skilled workforce mobility and human resource development between India and Japan.

The event was attended by several prominent dignitaries from India and Japan, including Members of the House of Representatives of Japan such as Mr. Yamashita, former Minister of Justice; Mr. Ino, State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry; Mr. Nakamura, State Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; Mr. Tadashi Maeda, Chairman, Japan Bank for International Cooperation; Mr. Kengo Otsuka, Deputy Director-General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan; and Ms. Nagma Mohamed Mallick, Ambassador of India to Japan.

In her keynote address, Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, highlighted India’s growing role as a trusted global workforce partner. She underlined the Government of India’s commitment to building transparent, ethical and scalable international labour mobility pathways. She emphasised that India’s demographic strength, robust skilling ecosystem and institutional reforms position the country as a reliable source of skilled manpower for global economies, including Japan.

She also elaborated on India’s large-scale workforce preparation ecosystem, supported by higher education institutions, Industrial Training Institutes, apprenticeship systems, digital skilling platforms and career services. She highlighted India’s international labour mobility framework, including the Ministry of External Affairs’ eMigrate platform, the National Career Service platform, Model Career Centres, and the broader skilling ecosystem involving the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, States and educational institutions.

Secretary further stressed the need to strengthen Japanese language readiness, sector-specific skilling, testing infrastructure, skill mapping, occupational alignment, structured demand aggregation, ethical recruitment practices and institutional collaboration between India and Japan.

Special messages were received from the Japanese Prime Minister, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, and the Director of IIT Guwahati, outlining a medium- to long-term vision for proactive India–Japan personnel exchange. The growing role of Indian States and higher education institutions in preparing globally skilled workforce aligned to international requirements was also highlighted.

The seminar witnessed participation from around 250 representatives of leading Japanese companies, including senior executives and human resource managers exploring structured engagement with India’s skilled workforce ecosystem.

Participants recognised strong potential for India–Japan cooperation across sectors such as manufacturing, caregiving, construction, automobile maintenance, hospitality, agriculture, IT and digital services, and emerging green economy sectors. Discussions also underlined the importance of digital public infrastructure and employment facilitation systems in creating transparent and scalable workforce mobility pathways.

As a way forward, both sides discussed expanding Japanese language and testing centres in India, strengthening collaboration between Japanese employers and Indian skilling institutions, improving demand visibility from Japan, promoting skill-recognition and occupational alignment, and building trusted workforce mobility pathways through closer institutional cooperation.

The Assam Government’s Foreign Language Initiative for Global Talent (FLIGHT) was highlighted as a State-led initiative to prepare candidates for global workforce opportunities, particularly for Japan-oriented pathways.

The event concluded with remarks by Mr. Toshiaki Nishikawa, Chairman & CEO, ASEAN GROUP Co. Ltd., who reiterated the importance of long-term India–Japan people-to-people partnerships. He expressed optimism about future workforce cooperation and conveyed his enthusiasm for realising a Japan–India personnel exchange programme involving 50,000 people over the next 10 years.

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Rini Choudhury/Anjelina Alexander

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