On Monday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar pronounced Assam as Springboard of India’s Act East Policy and its overall development as fundamental to the success of the policy. Addressing a press conference on ‘Act East Policy and India-Japan Cooperation in North East India’, he asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is deeply committed to the all-round development of the state and JICA- Japan International Corporation Agency can attest to the fact how international partnerships and policies can make a contribution towards the development of states.
Dr S Jaishankar also underlined that though the birth of nation-states after the departure of British, perturbed the process connectivity, the Act East Policy enunciated by PM focused on the potential to restore the connectivity and entail increased people to people contact with the other countries situated to the eastern side of India particularly the ASEAN nations.
Satoshi Suzuki, Japanese Ambassador to India was also present at the conference to analyse JISA-aided projects in India. Focussing on India’s relationship with Assam, Dr S Jaishankar stated that cooperation of both the countries has made a lot of difference towards the development of India and particularly in Assam. He further said that the warmth and friendship between the two countries have increased over the years and India shares cordial relation with Japan.
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Speaking about the importance of Assam with respect to the Act East Policy, he said – ‘’Assam has long been the fulcrum of North East India. This potential can make it a centre of all opportunities that this state will have with its neighbouring nations.’’
