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North-east’s trade potential to be displayed at Bangkok summit

Special Correspondent

“North-east has been a prisoner to its frontiers since Independence”

NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the success of the 3rd North East Business Summit held here in April, the Union Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) will showcase the region and its untapped trade and investment potential at yet another business summit beginning in Bangkok on Monday.

Talking to reporters on Sunday, DONER Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said the Business Summit would offer an opportunity to the companies and businessmen of Thailand to invest in the north-eastern region; particularly in enhancing the area’s absorptive capacity. “Money is not the problem; the problem lies in the fact that the region does not have an absorptive capacity without which all this allocation is meaningless.”

Insurgency problem

Referring to the problem of insurgency in some of the north-eastern States, Mr. Aiyar said that barring Manipur and a few pockets of Assam, the entire region was peaceful and the climate was most conducive for trade, business and industry. Even in the case of Nagaland, which is a witness to violence every once in a while, he pointed out that it was never directed against foreigners.

As to whether investors would be willing to come to a region where access to large tracts are limited by Restricted Area Permit and Inner Line Permit, the Minister said this would not stand in the way of investment as the administration was keen on getting people to invest in the region.

Of the view that the north-east has been a prisoner to its frontiers since Independence, Mr. Aiyar said his Ministry’s endeavour was to break it from this stranglehold. Stating that South-East Asia begins in the north-east, he said the Look East Policy of the government would take off only when connectivity was established between the two regions.

Keen interest

“Thailand views the north-east as an exceptionally attractive potential investment destination for Thai businessmen. It has showed a keen interest particularly in the tourism and hospitality sector.” With 30 million foreign tourists visiting Thailand annually in comparison to just three million coming to India, Thailand and north-east region could be packaged together, he added. “Even if the north-east region can get one per cent of the Thai tourist traffic every year, it will change the face of the region.”

Indian delegation

Mr. Aiyar will lead a 225-member Indian delegation to the Bangkok summit where nearly 200 top Thai businessmen would interact with their Indian counterparts. Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar and officials from a number of public sector undertakings would be a part of the Indian delegation.

The Minister said key sectors identified for attracting investment from Thailand include road, rail, inland waterways, air connectivity, energy, food processing, tourism and hospitality, horticulture, handlooms and handicrafts.

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