Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, May 17: Japan has officially offered to Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, the support for various ongoing as well as upcoming development and infrastructure projects in the North-Eastern region.
The Ambassador of Japan to India, Kenji Hiramatsu formally met Dr Jitendra Singh and conveyed his government’s inclination to invest in Northeast and also offer any other feasible support for new ventures. He said, the North-Eastern region of India has immense potential and with the kind of priority being given to the region by the Modi Government, the Government of Japan looks forward to engage itself as a partner with the Ministry of DoNER at different levels, both financially and otherwise.
According to Kenji, the preferred States which the Government of Japan looks forward to invest in Northeast are Assam, followed by Manipur and Nagaland. He said, besides the trade and entrepreneurship interest, the Government of Japan also has a historic emotional link with the region because it was in the area around Manipur and Nagaland that during the Second World War, around 30,000 Japanese soldiers had got killed while fighting jointly with the British Army against the allied forces.
Dr Jitendra Singh appreciated the offer made by the Government of Japan and said, while the Ministry of DoNER will look forward to a large scale engagement of Japanese resources in the making of roads and bridges in the North-Eastern region, the Japanese partnership could also be utilized in the recent initiative of developing inland waterways transport along River Brahmaputra down to Bay of Bengal. Similarly, he said, the Government of Japan had shown interest in the education sector wherein also an arrangement could be suitably worked out.
Dr Jitendra Singh made a special mention of Prime Minister Modi’s “Start up India, Stand up India” programme for the youth and informed the Japanese delegation that the Ministry of DoNER had also added a provision of providing Venture Fund to anybody who decides to set up an establishment or enterprise in Northeast. He suggested that the Japanese government could put in its resources to reinforce the DoNER Ministry’s financial pool for offering Venture Funds and could also play a constructive role in promoting rural livelihood and self-help groups through North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP).
Follow our WhatsApp channel
