Northeast India, which shares 98 per cent of its borders with five different countries, including China, has the ‘prospective to become a vivacious link to the three SAARC countries ~ Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and ‘Southeast Asia, especially Myanmar.
Moreover, as India’s foreign policy talks about the Act East and ‘Neighbourhood First’ strategies, it again brings Northeast India into the spotlight as a ‘connectivity gateway” to the wider Indo-Pacific region.
‘The “Act East’ policy for India is crucial. Its primarily because India is crucially positioned within South Asia and is part of the broader Bay of Bengal region.
If India wants to play a more vibrant role in the region, it must engage more strongly with its East (even Fareast Asia) and Southeast Asian neighbors. And in such a situation, the role of Northeast India is again going to be significant.
After all, in a globalised world, connectivity is central to development. A lot of researchers have articulated that connectivity is a key instrument for the overall development of a region.
‘The geographical location of Northeast India makes it the key alliance for India’s connectivity plans and ‘marketable interests in the Bay of Bengal region
And when we talk of a stronger alliance with Fareast Asia, Japan’s idea of a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ and India’s Act East’ and Neighbourhood First’ policies find a total strategic convergence.
Now, there is greater awareness of the importance of connectivity corridors to enhance trade, commerce, and people-to-people connectivity. But, itis an extremely difficult task to have proper connectivity corridors, or something like a freight corridor in Northeast India primarily because of the topography.
And because of the topography and the distance from New Delhi, the entire Northeast India remained an underdeveloped region for such a long time.
