Meet to better NE links with Asean countries

Shillong: Addressing a high-profile gathering of ambassadors and heads of missions at the inaugural session of India-ASEAN Connectivity: Challenges and Opportunities for the Northeastern Region here on Monday, Anil Wadhwa, secretary (east), ministry of external affairs, focused on the existing issues and challenges in the development of the region. He detailed the policy initiatives the government is working on.
“Development of feeder highways is necessary in NER,” said Wadhwa. The Shipping Corporation of India will be connecting eastern India with Yangon next year, he informed the gathering.
Focusing on border trade, Wadhwa said Manipur should develop as a multi-economic zone and Moreh should emerge as an economic growth zone.
Delivering the special address, Rizali Wilmar Indrakesuma, Indonesian ambassador to India, said, “Infrastructure development will lead to increase in transportation of passengers and goods through the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean at a much lesser cost. This will increase competitiveness and efficiency of the sectors.”
Ameising Luikham, secretary, NEC, said that with Vision 2020 focusing on some of the major development agendas of NER, there is a need to focus on development of transportation, logistics and communication technologies.
“Moreh-Madalay, Kaladan-Sitwe and some other communication ways have the potential to reduce operational costs once installed,” he remarked. However, he said sanctioning of funds by DoNER ministry leads to delay in development of projects.
He said a think-tank for NEC needs to be developed for effectively implementing Vision 2020. V S Seshadri, vice-chairman, RIS, focused on the implementation of projects rather than on studies and paperwork. “If there is proper connectivity, a much larger market can be tapped at Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam,” he said.
Roopen Roy, president, Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), spoke on the potential of NER. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the sectors with a huge possibility of growth in the ASEAN countries, he said. “The Mekong-Ganga Project will help in reducing the gap between ASEAN countries and India and there is a need for sub-regional development,” he added.
During the session, two Knowledge Reports, one by RIS on “Building Cross Border Production Networks between India’s northeast, Bangladesh and Myanmar” and one by ICC on “Investment Opportunities in Northeastern Region: Scopes for Cross Border Production Links”, were released.