India, Japan hail progress in NE uplift

•  India and Japan have lauded the progress made for development of the Northeast through the India-Japan Act East Forum by identifying and implementing projects for enhancing connectivity, sustainable forest and ecological management, disaster risk reduction and people-to-people exchanges.
• The two countries on Monday signed an agreement on the ‘North East Road Network Connectivity Improvement Project’ in Tokyo for sustainable catchment forest management in Tripura (having a total loan provision of up to 316.458 billion yen).
• This will complement India's other connectivity projects in the region including BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal) and BIMSTEC Motor Vehicle Agreements.
• The connectivity initiatives are also part of the Indo-Japan corridor conceived earlier for the Indo-Pacific region.
• The corridor also extends to Eastern Africa under the Asia Africa Growth Corridor.

What is the significance?

• Development of the Northeast is a priority for India and a key to promote its Act East Policy.
• In this context, the agreements come as a contribution to intra-regional and international connectivity in the Northeast region.
• Significantly, it is viewed as an alternative to the Chinese dominated One Belt One Road (OBOR).
• Besides, Japan has a great potential for people-to-people and cultural exchanges between Japan and the Northeast.
• This comes in the backdrop of Japan's historic connection to the Northeast through the Battle of Imphal (fought between Japanese Army and the British during World War II).

By: Ziyaur Rahman