Assam-Japan partnership: A catalyst to connect South Asia with Southeast Asia

Subir Dutta

(suveerdutta@gmail.com)

Of late, India-Japan relations under the leadership of Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba have grown in size and magnitude. From the stage of World War II to the recent strategic ties, the relationship has attained both purpose and progress. From building robust economic ties in the Indo-Pacific region and India’s Northeast to partnership in infrastructure creation, the Indo-Japanese partnership has gained quality and quantum.

Given these burgeoning ties, Japan, which is the land of the rising sun, holds immense importance to India’s Act East Policy. Based on our historical ties, trust, and friendship, connecting Southeast Asia with South Asia started gaining importance as part of Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Policy (FOIP). Meanwhile, India’s Act East Policy (AEP), launched in 2014, found a lot of traction with Japan’s FOIP. Given its geostrategic location, Northeast India naturally became the prime attention of engagements between the two nations. The Northeastern region plays a vital role in the success of India’s Act East Policy. As a point of convergence between India’s Act East Policy and Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Policy, Assam and other Northeastern states have emerged as a prime mover of cooperation between the two Asian giants.

To give this momentum a definite shape, it is expected that since Assam occupies a strategic and the most important part of the Northeast, it should play a decisive role in the success of AEP and FOIP. Against this backdrop, Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma’s three-day visit from 22 to 24 December 2025 to Japan in the run-up to the ensuing Advantage Assam 2.0 Investment and Infrastructure Summit holds tremendous importance. Giving the Indo-Japan bilateral relations a new push, Japan’s initiative for sustainable development of the Northeast in the areas of bamboo value chain, agriculture, tourism, healthcare, forest resource management connectivity, skilling, renewable energy, etc., is taking Japan’s partnership in the Northern region to a greater height.

To put this into perspective, an example of Japan’s assistance to the region is the North-East Road Connectivity Project, which will greatly benefit Meghalaya and enhance connectivity with Assam and Bangladesh. For instance, Japan has taken up various road and rail projects and deep-sea ports (Matarbari port in Bangladesh) in the Bay of Bengal region. A few Japanese companies have begun to invest in Assam, and a Japanese industrial township has been planned near Guwahati.

To give new momentum to this beginning and to strengthen Assam-Japan relations through collaborative initiatives in the backdrop of Advantage Assam 2.0, Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, during his Japan visit, met Japan’s State Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, Furukawa Yasushi, in Tokyo and spoke on boosting ties with Japan. He also met State Minister for Economy, Trade, and Industry, Koga Yuichiro San, in Tokyo and conveyed Assam’s readiness to establish a business park dedicated to Japanese firms. He also requested the minister to consider setting up testing centres for the Technical Intern Training and the Specified Skill Workers’ programme so that the state’s youth have better access to short-term work opportunities in Japan. He also met State Minister for Justice Komura Masahiro and pointed out how the ideals of Gautam Buddha form the spiritual bridge between the societies of Assam and Japan.

Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma met Japan’s Parliamentary Vice Minister Akiko Ikuina, who, displaying her immense love and respect for Assam’s culture, greeted the Chief Minister in Assamese. The meeting between them highlighted Assam’s cooperation with Japan in the fields of skilled workforce and the immense opportunities that Japan has created for the youth of Assam. During the meeting, she conveyed to the Chief Minister Japan’s intention of offering India, particularly Assam’s young and skilled workforce, job opportunities in Japan. Dr. Sarma, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a robust friendship between India and Japan, reiterated that the friendly bilateral relations between the two countries are the hallmarks of making the lives of people living in both nations better.

To woo Japanese industrialists and trade bodies, Dr. Sarma also attended a roadshow in Tokyo where he presented Assam’s economy, its investment ecosystem, and business-friendly policies. He said that with an impressive annual growth rate of 12.4 percent, Assam is poised for a big haul for investment as the single-window mechanism of USD 3.2 billion production-linked incentives has made Assam a preferred end for investment.

The Chief Minister moreover portrayed that Japan is a natural partner in Assam’s pursuit of growth and development. Therefore, the participation of Japanese industrialists, investors, and entrepreneurs in the forthcoming Advantage Assam 2.0 summit, besides fostering stronger ties with Japan, would turn out to be a win-win business interface forthe mutual benefits of both Assam and Japan.

Chief Minister Dr. Sarma also held an all-important meeting with Mr. Kazuya Nakajo, Executive Vice President of Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), the Vice President of Hitachi Hirohide Hirai, and Vice President Renesas Global, Charles Kawashima, and talked about sectors like renewable energy, semiconductor facilities, etc. Dr Sarma said that the Tata Semiconductor facility would produce 48 million chips every day, making Assam a global hub for chip supply. He also requested Kawashima to ensure the Renesas Global becomes a partner in Assam’s semiconductor growth story. He also held a meeting with Terutoshi Hamano and his team from Toyota Motor Corp., Executive Vice President of Tokyo Electron (TEL) Takeshi Okubo, and Senior Vice President of JICA Hara Shohei and expressed Assam’s interest in partnering with the companies to establish Assam as a key industrial hub.

The ability to keep the momentum going is indeed very critical in any partnership. Showing immense readiness to take the mutual partnership to a new level, recently the Ambassador of Japan to India ONO Keiichi along with a Japanese delegation visited the semiconductor assembly and test site. In this context, the role of Assam government under the leadership of Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma plays a key role. Regular dialogues and deciding the true spirit of the dialogues between Japan and Assam can strengthen the effort in bolstering the partnership and in turn can be a force multiplier in connecting South Asia with Southeast Asia, in which Assam can play a vital role.