Summit will help boost NE trade: Ansari Staff reporter GUWAHATI, Sept 15 The 4th North East Business Summit will not only help explore vast possibilities in the realm of trade and commerce in the region, but would answer geo-political questions vital to its present and future. This was among the views expressed by Vice President of India, M Hamid Ansari, after he inaugurated the 4th North East Business Summit at Sarusajai, organised jointly by the DoNER Ministry in collaboration with the Indian Chamber of Commerce.
Referring to the North East he said, Despite rich natural resources and high literacy levels, what we see is a pattern of low capital formation, poor infrastructure, high levels of poverty and unemployment, poor geographical and physical connectiveness and lack of exploitation of inherent strengths of the region. The gathering today is an affirmation that it should not be so...
Describing the Summit as a conference with a difference, he expressed his confidence that it would help highlight the immense business potential of the North East.
The Vice President underscored the need for strengthening the econmic ties with ASEAN countries and beyond to improve the economic climate of the region, and said that the region provided ample economic opportunities to investors because of the policies taken by the Union Government in recent times.
He hoped that the Summit and its after effects would help understand what new patterns of innovative approaches could be adopted for positive econmic changes in the North East.
Giving precise articulation to the objectives of the summit, Union Minister, Ministry of DoNER, Mani Shankar Aiyar said that so far the efforts have been to put the North East in the business map of India, but this Summit would establish the region in the map of Business International.
Stating that North East India ends where South East Asia begins, Aiyar said that unfortunately the region has become a prisoner of its frontiers. With the 4th North East Business Summit there is an opportunity to release the prisoner.
Trade with Bangladesh, with which the region shares a 4,000 km border would have significant benefits to the region. Econmic activities with Myanmar could likewise be of immense value, besides securing links with South Asia and beyond.
He revealed that for a long time there was a need for a path of action, however a road map was now in place in the shape of the NE Vision Document 2020. Aiyar asserted that nearly Rs 14 lakh crore would be required to put the region at par with the national average by the year 2020. He said that the huge quantum of funds necessary for implementing the goals would not be difficult to secure. Substantial parts of it could be generated by Public Sector corporates.
He hoped that the private sector would recognise the immense potential for doing business in the North East and would play a more active role in the times ahead, discounting fears that the region was not a safe place for doing business. He underlined that four States of North East were totally safe and therefore investor friendly.
Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that there was a wrong impression about Assam and the North East and said the Summit would allow the Summit members to have the correct picture. Stating that the North East region had immense scope of business opportunities ranging from tourism to agriculture, and food processing to hydropower, he hoped that investors would take advantage of the situation.
Earlier, the president of Indian Chamber of Commerce, Sanjay Budhia in his welcome address, termed the Summit as a momentous occasion, and said that it was a true reflection of the commitment to promote awareness of the region blessed with abundant natural resources and skilled human resource.
Other dignitaries who attended the Summits inaugural included the Chief Ministers of Meghalaya and Manipur along with the senior level representatives from the rest of the States of the region. A number of ambassadors and emissaries from several foreign embassies were also in attendance.
