On January 28, 2021, India & Japan held the 5th Joint Meeting of the India-Japan Act East Forum (AEF) at New Delhi. Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary of India & Suzuki Satoshi, Ambassador of Japan to India were the co-chairs of the meeting.
- AEF was established in 2017 with an objective of modernization of North Eastern (NE) Region of India.
- The Modernization program is part of India’s ‘Act East Policy’ & Japan’s ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’.
During the meeting, both sides
i.Reviewed the progress of projects taking place in the North Eastern (NE) Region of India under the assistance of Japan.
- Connectivity, Hydropower, Sustainable Development, Utilization of Water Resources & Skill Development are the areas under which projects are taking place.
- Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the NE region is INR 1600 crores.
- It covers 7 NE states – Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland.
- The projects being carried out include Sewerage Project in Guwahati, Assam & Major district roads projects in Sikkim.
ii.Discussions regarding the status of new projects taking place under the India-Japan bilateral cooperation.
- Both Countries are also set to finalize the India-Japan Initiative for Sustainable Development of the Northeast Region of India.
iii.They also exchanged views in the fields of healthcare, agro-industries & Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), bamboo value chain development, smart city, Tourism & people-to-people exchanges.
iv.India called for fastening the construction of Smart city projects in Kohima (Nagaland), JIT Nagarbera   (Assam) & Establishment of Three Healthcare projects namely
- 4000 bed Teaching hospital in Kohima
- Super-specialty cancer & Research center in Mizoram
- Strengthening of health system & Excellence of Medication Education in Assam
Recent Related News:
i.On December 21, 2020, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi virtually addressed the 6th India-Japan SAMVAD Conference.
About Japan:
Prime Minister – Yoshihide Suga
Capital – Tokyo
Currency – Japanese Yen
