Two-day Northeast summit concludes in Manipur

Our Correspondent
Imphal, Nov. 22 (EMN): The two day North East Development Summit (NEDS) which was held with an objective to showcase the existing economic potential and to attract outside investors in terms of food processing industry, bamboo industry, fisheries, real estate etc, concluded at City Convention Centre on Wed.
NEDS was jointly organised by state government in collaboration with Union commerce ministry and India Foundation.
The second day discussion included trade and investments, connectivity and infrastructure development, tourism development and sports in north east region besides skill development and capacity building.
Manipur’s Commerce and Industries Minister Thongam Biswajit Singh chaired the discussion on trade and investments, connectivity and infrastructure development.
The sessions were attended by Vice Minister, Ministry of Info., Culture, Tourism, Lao DPR H.E. Savankhone Razmountry; Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Japan, Yutaka Kikuta, Joint Secretary; Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Joint Secretary Dr.Vandana Kumar; ASEAN-India Business Council Co-Chairman Dato’ Ramesh Kodammal; SBI Life Managing Director and CEO Arijit Basu and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations Director and Chief Executive Dr Rajat Kathuria.
Savankhone Razmountry in his open remark appreciated the commitment and dedication of the government in bringing development to the north-eastern region of India and connectin the region with South East Asian countries.
Citing that Assam is already famous for its tea exports and that city of Imphal is well known for the Battle of Imphal during the WW-II occurs in many textbooks in Japan, Yutaka Kikut lamented that limited physical infrastructure in NE and weak security are two main concerns of the Japanese companies as well as the government of Japan. There are 64 Japanese establishments in NE out of 4,590 located in India.
Dato’ Ramesh Kodammal said ASEAN-India Business Council focuses on relationship between ASEAN and India and was formed by governments of ASEAN and India to see that there is a smooth implementation of trade policies while SBI’s.
Arijit Basu said connectivity is very important for business, but any growth in industry would also require the ability to market and ability to ensure that raw material move from one place to another for which road and rail connectivity will be crucial linkages.
In his closing remarks, Minister Biswajit said the government will note down all the points highlighted by the speakers and will consider the highlights and recommendations with all seriousness.