India said Japan is a "natural partner" in achieving the goal of increasing the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25 per cent in the coming years. <br/><br/>Both the countries discussed ways of increasing bilateral trade and investments during a day-long conference in Nagoya in Japan.<br/>'<br/>A business delegation led by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participated in that event. <br/><br/>An official statement quoting Sitharaman said in New Delhi that India wants to increase the contribution of manufacturing sector to GDP to 25 per cent and Japan is a natural partner in our goals. <br/><br/>Currently the manufacturing sector contributes about 17 per cent to the country's GDP. Sitharaman also met Governor of Aichi Prefecture Hideaki<br/>Ohmura in Nagoya.<br/><br/>Hideaki acknowledged that the India Conference will further encourage the companies in Aichi Prefecture to invest<br/>in India.<br/>'<br/>Japan said although it is the third largest foreign investor in India, with 25.2 billion US dollars during the April 2000- December 2016, behind Mauritius and Singapore, it can be considered a top investor as the other two countries are used by companies from across the world to route investments.<br/>'<br/>Sitharaman urged the Governor to consider diversification of investment in other sectors such as food processing, textiles, medical equipment, electronics and IT in India.<br/>'<br/>The minister invited Hideaki to lead a delegation of Japanese companies to MSME clusters in India to explore partnership and investment opportunities.<br/>'<br/>At the conference, Secretary DIPP Ramesh Abhishek highlighted the unparallelled opportunities and advantages that investors could leverage by making in India.