Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, February 09 2009:
The fifth North East India Trade and Investment Summit will be held at Ho-Chi Minh, Vietnam from February 12 to 14.Manipur chief minister, O Ibobi with his spouse Landhoni who is an MLA is likely to take part with other official of the Manipur government.
Official source said Monday that state government has applied to Union ministry of external affairs for political clearance to the participation of the chief minister and his spouse in the summit along with 11 other officials including state chief secretary Rakesh.
The summit of this year is organizing by the Union ministry of DoNER (Department of North East Region) in association with the ICC Kolkata and it will begin from February 12 and concludes on February 14 .
In an effort to expose the investment opportunities in the region and to project this region as investor friendly, the Ministry of DoNER and CII in association with North East India Industry Ministers Forum and Assam government organized the summit last at Guwahati.
The summit was attended by delegates from US, UK, Austria, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, Switzerland, Canada and the UAE and NRI, apart from representatives of 8 North-Eastern States.
Despite having vast investment opportunities in sectors like tourism, hydropower, infrastructure, healthcare, textile and handicrafts, horticulture and agro based industries, minerals etc., the North Eastern states has yet to witness any major investments in these sectors by private investors-be it domestic or foreign.
The probable reason for this, could very well be the lack of knowledge about the region, little or no exposure of the investment potential of the region to the prospective investors and the dubious distinction this region has got, of being infested with various secessionist groups thereby making the potential investors feel the region is unsafe for huge investment and above all, lack of political will.
Now, with the objective of bringing changes in the North-Eastern states the DoNER with the initiative of CII has been organizing to open up its arm to the private investors.
Vietnam has been hosting this year summit as it had expressed their desire to host the next North-East India Investment and Trade Opportunities Week in Ho Chi Minh City.
The summit of the last year had agreed to the augmentation of absorptive capacity in the North-East by the participation of major Thai construction companies in construction-related projects, especially the construction of roads of all kinds, inland waterways and modern as well as low-cost buildings.
The collaboration to expand across the tourism spectrum from connectivity to construction in the hospitality sector to tourism promotion and the establishment of common tourist circuits between Thailand and the North-East, taking into account Thai expertise in export-oriented agro- and food-processing, and the Thai conglomerate CP's growing presence in other parts of India and to focus on mini-hydel projects and thermal energy, particularly gas-based electricity generation in the region.