As Bangladesh moves out from least developed country (LDC) status and more interest is being generated in Japanese companies on doing business in the country.

Challenges in attracting Japanese companies to northeast India exist.

Market linkages, developing skilled human resources and ensuring security are key factors.

However, connectivity and joint projects between northeast India and Bangladesh with Japanese collaboration can be a unique selling point.

This was highlighted at the second India-Japan intellectual web dialogue "Development of India's North Eastern Region and Neighbourhood: India-Japan Collaboration for Fostering Entrepreneurship and People Connectivity" organised by Asian Confluence in partnership with the Embassy of Japan in India.

Japanese Ambassador to India Suzuki Satoshi said: "The comprehensive collaboration between India and Japan provides the landlocked North East with access to the Bay of Bengal and access to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which plays a key role in unleashing enormous potential of growth and prosperity based on better access to the Indian Ocean."

Smita Pant, joint secretary (Bangladesh, Myanmar) at India's external affairs ministry, highlighted all the initiatives underway in services – being augmented based on the hard infrastructure connectivity initiatives.

With abundant produce and strategic locational advantage, northeast India can be a major player in India's international trade with neighbours, particularly in the area of agriculture trade, she said.
Yui Nakamura from Sasakawa Peace Foundation highlighted the need to build more cultural infrastructure to bring higher awareness of the diversity and cultural nuances of the region.

The Asian Confluence curated dialogue saw vibrant exchanges chaired by Asian Confluence Governing Council Member and former Chairman Asian Development Bank Rajat Nag.

Specific product ideas such as buckwheat, bamboo, spices, shitake mushroom, medicinal plants, skill development, language training courses, and matching with educational institutions were discussed.

Kazuhide Sugimoto, a leading grower of mushrooms, made a presentation at the dialogue.

KN Kumar, chairman of Meghalaya Farmers Commission, who spoke about specific initiatives on buckwheat in his area.

"The attempt in this dialogue has been to not only highlight and promote further narratives of cooperation but also matchmaking to forge concrete collaborations on specific products by connecting entrepreneurs and opinion leaders from Japan, India and our neighbours from Bangladesh," said Sabyasachi Dutta, executive director of Asian Confluence.

The dialogue had wide participation from several universities and colleges across many Indian states, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Japan and is expected to be followed up by a third round at the end of the year or early next year.