Assam, Japan agree to deepen partnership across key sectors

Guwahati: Assam and Japan have agreed to further strengthen our collaboration across key sectors including electronics, semiconductor, infrastructure, manufacturing and entrepreneurship.

Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Delighted to have received a phone call from H. E ONO Keiichi, the Ambassador of Japan to India last evening. He reaffirmed the Japanese Government’s commitment to deepen its ongoing partnership with Assam under India’s Act East Policy. We agreed to further strengthen our collaboration across key sectors including electronics, semiconductor, infrastructure, manufacturing and entrepreneurship. In the coming days, Assam looks forward to engage with Japanese enterprises and institutions to enhance both investments and economic opportunities for our people.”

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on June 23 confirmed that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's proposed visit to Guwahati has been cancelled.


Speaking to the media persons he had said, "Foreign Secretary of India Vikram Misri told the Assam Chief Secretary at around 10:30 pm yesterday that the Japanese PM will not come to Guwahati, and her visit will be limited to New Delhi”.

The Chief Minister said that he had not been told the reason for the cancellation and would not speculate on it. "The reason has not been conveyed to us, and we cannot ask them about it due to protocol. We will have to find out for ourselves, when I go to Delhi and discuss it with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar," he said.

Sarma added that while the cancellation had been communicated to Assam in two lines, with no further explanation, the Centre had assured a high-level business delegation would visit Assam in the near future instead. "It's unfortunate for us. We tried in 2019 and could not bring them. A team from Japan has been here for over a month now, surveying Guwahati thoroughly, including hotel rooms and food arrangements.”

Assam twice missed the opportunity of hosting the Prime minister of Japan. Prime minister Sanae Takaichi was likely to visit Assam from July 1 to hold summit level talks with Prime minister Narendra Modi in Guwahati.

Assam had earlier missed out on hoisting the Japanese Prime minister in 2019 following the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest.

The annual India-Japan summit will now be held during her visit to New Delhi. Takaichi is also expected to be accompanied by a delegation composed of several leading Japanese businesspersons. The Japanese PM is likely to travel between 1 and 3 July for her maiden visit to India.