Japan will connect Northeast India to the Bay of Bengal: Dy Foreign Minister Horii Iwao

Japan will support connectivity plans linking Northeast India to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean region, said Deputy Foreign Minister of Japan Horii Iwao on Friday (February 27, 2026).

Speaking at a foreign policy conclave in Meghalaya’s capital, Shillong, the visiting dignitary said the Northeastern States can serve as a “powerful engine of growth” when harmonised with a grid that includes Southeast Asia, Bangladesh and Nepal.  

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“Japan will support connectivity linking Northeast India to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. Northeast India is located in a pivotal geopolitical position as a gateway to Southeast Asia,” said Horii Iwao, who spoke at the Sixth India-Japan Intellectual Conclave organised by Asian Confluence, a Shillong-based foreign policy think tank. The visiting dignitary further said that Japan remains “firmly committed to the development of Northeast India”.

“When we view this region as part of a broader economic region encompassing Nepal, Bhutan, India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, it possesses significant potential to serve as a powerful engine of growth,” he further said.

Apart from enhancing connectivity between northeast India and nearby areas, Horii Iwao said Tokyo under the new government led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is also committed to enhance people-to-people ties between Japan and northeast India as well as ensure private-sector cooperation in the areas of economic security, semiconductors and clean energy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Japan on August 29-30, 2025, and he also met the new and Japan’s first female Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in November on the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa. Subsequently, External Affairs Jaishankar hosted his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi at the Hyderabad House on January 16.

Horii Iwao said, as part of its Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) policy, Japan will work on an “Industrial Value Chain” that will connect the Bay of Bengal to the Northeast saying Japan “will connect Northeast India to the sea and promote development of the region as a whole”.