GUWAHATI, Feb 2— The need to develop the north-eastern region, particularly Assam, as the business hub centre of the South-East Asian countries will be the main thrust of the presentation to be made by the Minister of State for Home and Industries, Pradyut Bordoloi, who is a member of the Indian trade delegation to attend the international conference of the SE Asian countries to be held at Dhaka on February 6 and 7 under the Kunming initiative. Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, Bordoloi said that the Kunming initiative for regional cooperation was launched following the visit of the Indian President K R Narayanan to China in the early part of 1999 and the first meeting under the initiative was held in China. The then State Transport Minister Pradeep Hazarika, Member of Parliament Dr Arun Sarma, noted economist Dr Jayanta Madhab and journalist Sanjay Hazarika were among those who attended the meeting. The second sitting was held at New Delhi in December, 2000, while the third will be held at Dhaka. Representatives from China, India, Myanmar and host Bangladesh will attend the meet.
Bordoloi said that in his presentation, he will stress for reopening of the Stilwell road for boosting regional cooperation. He said that according to information available, the Chinese Government has already developed its part of the road as a four-lane highway. While, the road is also operational in Southern Myanmar. He expressed the view that the need of the hour is to explode the myth that the road, if reopened, would give a boost to the militant activities. He also stressed the need for reopening of the road from Mizoram to Myanmar.
The Minister revealed that consultants of international repute, Coopers and Librants, which was engaged by the State Government to conduct a study into the possibilities of trade and commerce, had projected Assam as a future golden gate for the fast growing South-East Asian economy, while, the World Bank initiative for South Asian Regional Development also mentioned Assam as a potential growth centre for the South Asian countries. The Shukla Commission had also mentioned the potential of Assam to be developed as a hub centre for trade and commerce. He pointed out that all-out efforts should be made to realise the potential of Assam, and ‘we must try to project Assam as a distribution centre of goods to all the South-East Asian countries.”
Bordoloi pointed out that the Numaligarh refinery has already started exporting to Bangladesh, while, reputed electronic goods manufacturing company, LG, has come forward to set up a unit in Assam to capture the Bangladesh market. The decision to introduce flights from Guwahati to Bangkok will open up new avenues for trade and “we hope that gradually flights from Guwahati to other international destinations will be introduced in a phased manner,” he added.