The Hindu : National : Help northeast benefit from Look-East policy: Aiyar

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Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007
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Help northeast benefit from Look-East policy: Aiyar

Sushanta Talukdar

— Photo: PTI

Union Minister for Development of North-Eastern Region and NEC Chairman Mani Shankar Aiyar being felicitated in Tezpur on Tuesday.

Guwahati: Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) Mani Shankar Aiyar on Tuesday underlined the need for a shift in policy towards China and Bangladesh to enable the northeastern States to reap the benefits of the Look East Policy.

Mr. Aiyar said that while the northeast had become a prisoner of its international frontiers, the Yunan province of South West China, Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan plateau bordering the region had witnessed a boom in economic activities. The country must think of opening the northern boundary of the northeast to economically link the region with the Tibet Autonomous Region and South West China.

Delivering the valedictory address at the concluding session of the three-day conference on Look East Policy here, the Minister said that economic relations with Bangladesh had remained frozen for the past 35 years. The conference was organised by the Public Diplomacy division of the Ministry of External Affairs and co-hosted by Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. All benefits of the Look East Policy flowed to southern States of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, he said.

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