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India’s Northeast region holds immense potential to enhance the country’s connectivity with the wider Indo-Pacific. However, the region faces significant challenges, such as inadequate infrastructure, low levels of cross-border trade, and climate vulnerabilities. The U.S Indo Pacific Strategy: North-Eastern Dialogues (USIPS NED) aims to build awareness about the US Indo-Pacific Strategy in the Northeast and its role in developing trade, connectivity, and climate change mitigation in the region, through potential India-US cooperation. The project will engage 200 stakeholders from various sectors across the Northeast, with a goal of 50 percent participation of women. Through policy dialogues at both regional and national levels, the project aims to create a comprehensive understanding of the region’s challenges and opportunities in connectivity, trade, and climate change. A major focus of the dialogues will be assessing the region's physical and digital connectivity. Particular attention will be given to riverine and maritime infrastructure, vital for connecting the Northeast to the Indo-Pacific via the Bay of Bengal. The project will explore ways in which US-India cooperation can enhance trade logistics and fill infrastructural gaps.
Given the region’s vulnerability to climate change, the project will also highlight sustainable infrastructure practices that are resilient to climate-related risks. The focus will be on mitigating plastic pollution in riverine ecosystems, integral to the region’s development. Stakeholder engagement will be crucial to promoting eco-friendly solutions and ensuring long-term sustainability in infrastructure development. By fostering dialogue and cooperation between India and the US, the project will explore ways to harness the potential of India’s Northeast, promoting a more connected, inclusive, and climate-resilient region, while contributing to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The USIPS NED will be conducted through 5 policy dialogues in hybrid mode in five Northeastern states of Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim, Tripura, Mizoram, a digital dialogue in Manipur, and two national level dialogues in Kolkata and New Delhi. It aims to promote awareness and foster discussions about the US Indo-Pacific Strategy and its potential role in developing trade connectivity and climate change mitigation in the region. The Meghalaya Chapter was completed in Shillong on 26 November. The Assam Chapter is scheduled as a day- long event in Guwahati, Assam on 13 December 2024.
Each North-Eastern Dialogue will convene 37 stakeholders (participants) from the Northeast from diverse sectors such as government, business groups, civil society, professionals, non- government organisations, media, academia, and students. Among the 37 stakeholders; 27, will be joining in person and 10 will join digitally. The dialogues will also invite experts to present their views and set the context for discussion among the participants. Apart from engaging in the dialogues, invitees will also be requested to fill in a set of survey questionnaires. The pre- dialogue survey is designed to gauge their existing awareness of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy and their perceptions about potential India-US collaboration in trade connectivity and climate change in India’s Northeast. The Post dialogue survey will be conducted to measure if there are any changes in their opinions after participating in the dialogues.
09:00 - 09:30 (IN)
09:30 - 10:00 (IN)
Welcome Address by Anirban Sarma, Deputy Director, ORF Kolkata
Special Address by Lakshmanan S., Secretary, Industries, Commerce and Public Enterprise Departments, Government of Assam
Special Address by Gloria Berbena, Minister, Counselor for Public Diplomacy, United States Embassy, New Delhi
Project Introduction by Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury, Senior Fellow, ORF Kolkata and Project In-Charge, USIPS NED
10:00 - 10:15 (IN)
10:15 - 11:15 (IN)
Located at the juncture of South and Southeast Asia, India’s Northeast is a geographic pivot from which its multiple bordering countries can be accessed. In the era of the Indo-Pacific, where interconnectedness is essential among countries for mutual advantages and to address transnational challenges that affect people regardless of political boundaries, the time is ripe to unlock the Northeast’s true potential. Accordingly, the region has risen to the forefront of foreign policy interests of countries invested in the Indian Ocean region, which together with India seeks to create a free and inclusive Indo-Pacific. The US Indo-Pacific Strategy released in 2021, showcases the US’s commitment to “India’s continued rise and regional leadership,” and complements New Delhi’s interest in fostering regional growth. India’s Northeast thus becomes a zone of their converging policy interests, and a natural platform for their collaborative initiatives towards developing a more free, open, connected, secure and resilient Indo-Pacific.
Endowed with this objective, this session will explore the following key question:
Expert Panellists
Pahi Saikia, Professor of Political Science, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam
Jaideep Saikia, Security and Terrorism Analyst, Assam
Anirban Roy, Editor-in-Chief, Northeast News, Assam
Ishantor Shobhapandit, Regional Director, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Assam.
Gloria Berbena
Moderator
Sohini Bose, Associate Fellow, ORF and Project Coordinator USIPS NED
11:15 - 11:30 (IN)
11:30 - 12:15 (IN)
The Northeast is geographically positioned to be a strategic gateway to extend India’s outreach into the wider Indo-Pacific. However, it continues to suffer from gaps in connectivity infrastructure and low levels of transnational trade due to its difficult terrain and recurring political violence and ethnic conflicts, preventing its optimal utilisation. Assam is a key geographic location for connectivity within India, bordered by Bhutan to the north and Bangladesh to the south, but stands to gain from more infrastructural foresight. To better connect Assam with other Northeastern states as well neighbouring countries, it is vital to review the cavities in existing transportation links and chart ways in which these can be improved. The feasibility of developmental cooperation with the US in this regard is also an area of consideration.
Endowed with this objective, this session will explore the following key question:
Expert Panellists
Basu Chandola, Associate Fellow, Observer Research Foundation (virtual)
Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northeast Frontier Railway, Assam
Subir Kumar Sen, Professor, Department of Commerce, Tripura University, Tripura (virtual)
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury, Senior Fellow, ORF Kolkata
Moderator
Anirban Sarma
12:15 - 13:00 (IN)
Moderator
Saswati Choudhury, Director I/C, Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, Assam
Initiators
Elangbam Nixon Singh, Professor, Department of Management, Mizoram University, Mizoram
&
Amrita Saikia, Post Doctoral Research Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam
12:15 - 13:00 (IN)
Moderator
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury
Initiator
Rokibuz Zaman, Journalist, Scroll, Assam
12:15 - 13:00 (IN)
Moderator
Anirban Sarma
13:00 - 13:30 (IN)
01:00-01:10 pm Breakout Session I: Saswati Choudhury
01:10-01:20 pm Breakout Session II: Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury
01:20-01:30 pm Breakout Session III: Anirban Sarma
13:30 - 14:30 (IN)
14:30 - 15:15 (IN)
Panel Discussion III: Climate Conversations: Paths to Resilience in Assam and the Northeast
Due to its unique geography, fragile ecosystems and dependence on climate-sensitive livelihoods, India’s Northeast is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Increased rainfall, flooding, deforestation and rising temperatures are bearing both environmental and socio-economic impacts. Assam particularly witnesses natural disasters such as flooding, erratic rainfall and soil erosion, that affect its communities and hinder infrastructural growth. The state also suffers rising temperatures that affect the tea industry. Deliberations on climate change, climate-related hazards and their impact on life and livelihood, are thus crucial in the journey towards sustainable development.
Endowed with this objective, this session will explore the following key question:
Expert Panellists
Rituraj Phukon, Founder, Indigenous People's Climate Justice Forum, Co-Founder, Smily Academy & National Coordinator for Biodiversity, The Climate Reality Project India, Assam
Anup Shekhar Chakraborty, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, North East Hill University
Rakhee Kalita Moral, Professor, Centre for Women's Studies, Cotton University, Assam
Arkajyoti Majumder, Journalist, Tripura Times, Tripura
Moderator
Aparna Roy, Fellow and Lead Climate Change and Energy at the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy, ORF
15:15 - 16:00 (IN)
Moderator
Kaustubh Kumar Deka, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Dibrugarh University, Assam
Initiators
Adani Azohni, Associate Professor, National Institute of Technology Imphal, Manipur
&
Neeladri Bora, Co-Founder Northeast Centre for Equity Action on Integrated Development
15:15 - 16:00 (IN)
Moderator
Anup Shekhar Chakraborty
Initiators
Mirza Mahammad Irshad, Project Manager, Response and Recovery, Assam State Disaster Management Authority, Assam
&
Kripal Majumder, Project Officer, Assam State Disaster Management Authority, Assam.
15:15 - 16:00 (IN)
Moderator
Aparna Roy
16:00 - 16:30 (IN)
03:45-03:55 pm Breakout Session I: Kaustubh Kumar Deka
03:55-04:05 pm Breakout Session II: Anup Shekhar Chakraborty
04:05-04:15 pm Breakout Session III: Aparna Roy
16:30 - 16:45 (IN)
16:45 - 17:05 (IN)
Amitendu Palit, Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead (Trade and Economics) at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. (virtual)
In-Conversation with
Soumya Bhowmick, Fellow and Lead, World Economies and Sustainability, Centre for New Economic Diplomacy (CNED), Observer Research Foundation (virtual)
17:05 - 17:30 (IN)
17:30 - 17:45 (IN)
17:45 - 18:00 (IN)
Summarisation of Highlights by Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury
18:00 - 19:00 (IN)
