In pursuance of the Memorandum of Cooperation to establish the India-Japan Act East Forum, Ministry of External Affairs and Embassy of Japan held the first joint meeting of the Forum today. <br/><br/>The meeting was co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Dr. S. Jaishankar and the Japanese Ambassador to India Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu in New Delhi. The Memorandum of Cooperation to set up the forum was signed on 14th September this year during the visit of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India.<br/><br/>The Act East Forum aims to provide a platform for India-Japan collaboration under the rubric of India's "Act East Policy" and Japan's "Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy ". <br/><br/>The Forum will identify specific projects for economic modernization of India's North-East region including those pertaining to connectivity, developmental infrastructure, industrial linkages as well as people-to-people contacts through tourism, culture and sports related activities. ?<br/><br/>Besides the Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of Japan, participants included representatives from Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region , Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of Home Affairs and the States of North-East region from the Indian side, and Japan International Cooperation Agency, Japan External Trade Organization, Japan Foundation and Japan National Tourism Organization from the Japanese side.