New Delhi: For the first time, the North-Eastern state of Assam will be hosting an international summit – Indo-Japan annual summit on December 15 and 16. It was identified as the perfect spot outside New Delhi, as it has become one of the most important destinations for Japanese investments. Earlier this year the Japanese government announced that it was planning to invest about Rs 13,000 crore in old and new projects in different states of North East Region.

“As part of Act East Policy, North East is the perfect region to hold the summit level talks. Though the official dates and places to be visited in North East has not been officially announced,” sources say that the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will take place in Guwahati where Taj Vivanta and Radisson Blu will be hosting the leaders and their delegations during the summit.

So far the two leaders have met thrice with their last meeting being as recent as November on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok.

Imphal, Manipur, continues to be under consideration where most likely Abe will visit the new Peace Museum and perhaps cruise along the river Brahmaputra. The Peace Museum in Manipur is a remembrance memorial of one of the battles of World War II where several Japanese soldiers laid their lives.

The two leaders are expected to hold talks on a wide range of issues of bilateral and global interests as well as India’s stand on opting out of the Chinese backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Ahead of the recently concluded 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, the Japanese government expressed its unwillingness to ratify RCEP. However, according to reports, Japanese policymakers are keen that the government should try to convince India to join the RCEP as it would help balance China.

The leaders are expected to review the progress of the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor which had been jointly announced by both countries.