Mani Tripathi, India's new ambassador to Japan, said Thursday that Tokyo should make the most of the economic opportunities that exist in India for the benefit of both countries.

"There is a lot of potential for economic cooperation which have not been exploited so far, and we canexploit that potential to the advantage of Japan and India," Tripathi told The Japan Times.

He arrived in Tokyo in mid-November and presented his credentials to the Emperor on Jan. 15.

Pointing to Japan's graying population and India's abundant workforce, the ambassador said, "Perhaps we can link up and help each other."

Some 550 million of India's 1 billion people are younger than 25, and the country has the second-largest pool of trained manpower after the U.S., including engineers, scientists, technicians and doctors, he said.

He said possible areas of economic cooperation include the establishment of a manufacturing base and research and development centers by Japanese companies in India, and collaboration between the Japanese hardware and Indian software industry.

India's annual trade volume with Japan is stagnant at $3.5 billion, compared with $4 billion with South Korea and $8 billion with China, he said.

India and Japan together can fight international terrorism as well as reform and reinvigorate the United Nations to help resolve international problems, he said.

By deepening high-level political contacts, the two countries can "give a new dynamism and content to our partnership," he said.