KOHIMA, 5 Apr: Union Minister Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh on Wednesday said the country’s Northeast has relatively unexplored and immense market potential and urged G20 countries to invest in the region.
Delivering the keynote address at a B20 event in Nagaland, the minister said initiatives like the Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region showcase the importance being attached to the development of the region.
“Northeastern India is well placed to leverage this opportunity because even Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls the region the New Engine of Growth for India,” the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said at the programme here.
This is the fourth and final event of B20 being organized in north-east region. The first three conferences were held in Imphal, Aizawl and Gangtok.
Altogether 60 delegates from 27 countries, 39 overseas industries and 24 diplomats participated in the programme arranged by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) under the G20 Secretariat of the Ministry of External Affairs.
Business 20 (B20) is a group that represents the private sector within the G20, the premier forum for international economic cooperation.
Northeast is India’s gateway to Southeast Asia, and will have seamless land connectivity with the heart of ASEAN and beyond, once the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway is complete, the minister said.
In the last 8 years, air connectivity in the region has increased double fold while many Northeastern states have for the first time found a place in the country’s railway map, he said.
Efforts are also being made to expand the waterways and the length of highways in the region has increased by 50 per cent, the minister said.
“The region has a rich human resource base, and it will help grow your business in the Northeast and beyond,” said Singh while wooing the G20 investors.
Asking the delegates to use platforms like the B20 to start a conversation, and be the first movers, the Union minister assured the foreign investors that “10 years down, you will not regret.”
The B20 programme focused on multilateral partnerships in agriculture, food processing, tourism and information technology. (PTI)