New Delhi, October 31: Highlighting the bountiful natural beauty of Manipur with the largest natural fresh Loktak Lake lake in the North East region that makes it an enviable tourist destination, Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi urged the Centre to lift the Protected Area Permit from Manipur.

He demanded that Imphal should be a nodal point for connection to South East Asia.

The existing Protected Area Permit has been impeding development of tourism in the State.

Even Jammu and Kashmir had a PAP regime in only certain areas and not throughout the State.

The Manipur Chief Minister was speaking at the meeting of the Chief Ministers of the North Eastern states on Look East Policy today at Vigyan Bhavan here organized by the Ministry of External Affairs.

He drew attention of the Centre by highlighting some of the measures which needed to be taken as part of the LEP.

Ibobi said that historically, the economy of the North-East region was very closely inter-linked with South Asian countries like Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The partition of the country in 1947 had changed those historical links.

Opening of the border trade through Moreh had begun to restore bilateral trade between Manipur and Myanmar.

Strategically situated in the far flung corner of the vast sub-continent of India, Manipur is a natural corridor to Myanmar and to the rest of South East Asia, he added.

Describing Imphal being an excellent potential air link centre between NE India and South East Asia in view of its proximity to Myanmar, he gave an example that a flight between Imphal in India and Chiangmai in Thailand would take only one hour.

He urged the Centre to upgrade Imphal iirport now having night landing facilities into an international airport with cold storage facilities.

He also demanded to upgrade National Highways � 39, 53 and 150 across the State to fourlane roads for easy flow of heavy vehicular traffic.

He drew attention of the Centre to expedite the proposed Trans Asian Highway connecting Moreh in Manipur to Mae Sot in Thailand via Bagan in Myanmar.

Ibobi Singh stated that the border trading point at Moreh needed good road connectivity in order to have enhanced trade with the ASEAN countries.

Support for other trade related infrastructure from Assistance to States for Infrastructure Development Enterprises (ASIDE) under the Ministry of Commerce was also needed.

He expressed his full support to the proposed rail link from Jiribam in Manipur to Hanoi in Vietnam via Moreh.

He also urged the Centre to increase the present 22 number of tradable items at the border trade post in Moreh to 44 number.

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