Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Horii Iwao has officially announced a transformative strategic initiative to connect Northeast India with the Bay of Bengal, marking a significant milestone in the deepening partnership between Tokyo and New Delhi. Speaking at a high-level diplomatic forum, Minister Iwao emphasized that Japan views the development of India’s Northeast as a vital pillar for a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.” The ambitious project focuses on transforming the landlocked region into a vibrant industrial hub by establishing seamless connectivity through Bangladesh to the deep-sea port at Matarbari. This “Bay of Bengal-Northeast India Industrial Value Chain Concept” aims to create a continuous trade corridor that will drastically reduce transit times and costs for goods moving between the Seven Sister states and the global maritime market. Japan’s involvement is backed by substantial investments from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is already funding critical infrastructure including the construction of the Dhubri-Phulbari bridge and the modernization of national highways across Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura. By linking these road networks to the Matarbari port in Bangladesh, Japan intends to bypass traditional logistical bottlenecks, allowing Northeast India to export organic produce, tea, and minerals directly to Southeast Asia and beyond. Minister Iwao highlighted that this connectivity is not merely about asphalt and concrete, but about fostering regional stability and economic integration to counter-balance growing geopolitical shifts in the area. The Deputy Foreign Minister also noted that this synergy between India’s “Act East Policy” and Japan’s connectivity vision will empower local entrepreneurs and attract foreign direct investment into a region that has historically faced geographic isolation. As Japan continues to lead these massive engineering feats, the Bay of Bengal is set to become the gateway for Northeast India’s economic renaissance, solidifying a trilateral cooperation framework involving India, Japan, and Bangladesh that promises to reshape the economic geography of South Asia for decades to come.
Japan to Link Northeast India to Bay of Bengal
