India and Japan established the Act East Forum (AEF) in 2017 for (i) the development of the North Eastern region of India (NER) and (ii) to promote connectivity within this region and between this region and Southeast Asia. AEF reflects the synergy between India’s Act East Policy and Japan’s vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. Six meetings of the Act East Forum have taken place so far, while the coordination team meets more frequently for necessary ground work.
The scope of activities under the Initiative will be covered under the umbrella of AEF and will build on the inherent strengths of NER. This document will be updated periodically by including or modifying the projects through mutual consultation and consent. The following includes both ongoing projects and potential future cooperation to be explored.
Scope
(i) Agriculture
Capacity Enhancement for Sustainable Agriculture and Irrigation Development in Mizoram
(ii) Development of Agro-industries, especially through SMEs
Initiative for Strengthening Bamboo Value Chain in the North East [paper attached]; and
Food processing including tea industries, Organic Farming and Horticulture, including a project to support women’s empowerment. The initiative will look at encouraging B2B collaboration between India and Japan for achieving the aforementioned objectives.
(iii) Promotion of Tourism and Cultural Exchanges
Promoting tourism through active information outreach;
Art and Cultural Exchanges between NER and Japan, including Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival in Meghalaya;and
(iv)Promoting Skill India
Collaborating through skill centres, such as the Japanese Endowed Course (JEC) at IIT Guwahati, Assam; Promoting Japanese language education, including through JICA’s Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) teachers and Japan Foundation (JF) schemes;
Deploying trainees/workers to Japan under the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) / Specified Skilled Worker (SSW)
