Manchester’s links with Japan are stronger than ever following a fact-finding mission to the City by 70 of the country’s leading industrialists from the Kansai region.
Climax of the delegation’s stay was a one-day conference – the Osaka-Manchester Forum 97 – which marked the 125th anniversary of the Iwakura Mission to the United States and Europe in 1872.
One of the objectives of the meeting between the two business communities was to establish trading links in high-tech sectors such as pharmaceuticals, biosciences and environmental technologies.
The three-day visit ended with a civic dinner hosted by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Gerry Carroll, amid the Gothic splendour of the Great Hall in the City’s Victorian town hall. Terry Thomas, former chairman of the Co-operative Bank, chaired the UK side of the forum, while Masafumi Onishi, chairman of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Osaka Gas, led the delegation which visited local firms and attended the special meeting.
Principal British sponsor of the forum, the Co-operative Bank, was joined by names such as British Nuclear Fuels, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals and Manchester Airport. Japanese sponsors included Sharp – which has its European headquarters in Manchester – and All Nippon Airlines.
Sanyo Electric chair, Satoshi Iue, said the forum had been a resounding success, adding that he would now be “actively looking for opportunities for renewed business”. For Sir David Trippier, chairman of Marketing Manchester, the conference had helped “increase awareness” of what Manchester and the North West had to offer. The Japanese ambassador Hiroaki Fujii commented after the visit that it had been “a very successful first step” and he added “it must surely now lead to developing concrete long-term business relations”. At the full sessions of the forum much of the discussion was on the prospects for increased trade.
British members asked about Japanese non-tariff barriers and urged faster progress on deregulation, but they were also reminded that British sales to Japan reached a record of £4.3 billion in 1996 – an increase of over 13.6 per cent.
In an article in the Japan Times Sir Hugh Cortazzi, chairman of the preparatory committee in Britain for the Oaska-Manchester Forum, said there was also considerable discussion about investment. “The British side made it clear that the North West authorities would do all they could to help Japanese wanting to invest in the region which had good communications and infrastructure.” Cortazzi also reported that delegates from both sides were interested in the development of small and medium scale industries and how the two regions could learn from the experience of the other.
At the end of the forum on September 26 the two leaders signed a joint declaration reaffirming their determination to expand the links between the two regions and develop trade, investment and technological exchanges.
It was also agreed that a high level team from Manchester and the North West would visit the Kansai next October as part of ‘The Britain in Japan Year’ to further cement and develop the relationships