The Indian government has designated 2007 "Japan-India Friendship Year" to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a cultural-exchange agreement between the two countries, a visiting Indian minister said Friday.
"The relationship between the two major economic and cultural Asian powerhouses goes back centuries -- due to Buddhism -- and is increasingly becoming stronger," Indian Minister of State for Tourism Renuka Chowdhury said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Minister Chowdhury is in Japan for talks with her Japanese counterpart to promote tourism between the two countries.
"Our two countries have much so much we can learn from each other," she said.
Various travel packages exclusively designed for Japanese are available, Chowdhury added.
After giving a list of major tourist destinations in India, Chowdhury was asked if there were any others worth visiting.
"You can visit other countries but you can't 'visit' India -- you experience it. Go and see for yourself," she replied.