GUWAHATI, 23 Jul: In a bid to take forward the Act East policy, the second edition of the three-day Northeast India Festival will be held in Thailand capital Bangkok from 29 July.
The festival marks 75 years of India’s diplomatic relationship with Thailand and aims to promote trade, tourism, cultural exchange and people-to-people meet between the two countries, Northeast India Festival’s chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta said at a press conference here on Saturday.
“Northeast is going to Thailand to explore the shared history and to promote trade, business and people to people exchange,” he said.
The inaugural session of the festival, to be hosted by the Indian embassy in Thailand, will be held on 29 July at the Centara Grand Hotel in Bangkok.
The first edition of the festival, organised by the socio-cultural Trust Trend MMS, was held in 2019.
A few months later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Bangkok and said that the focus has been to promote “India’s Northeast as a part of India’s Act East policy and Thailand’s Act West policy.”
“The prime minister said that this was the background against which the Northeast India festival was organised for the first time outside India and the initiative has helped in better understanding about India’s Northeast,” Mahanta said.
“The prime minister’s mention of the festival was a certificate for us and we decided to hold the next edition in 2020. We had made all the preparations but it was delayed due to the pandemic.
“Finally, we are organising it this year to mark India’s 75 years of independence and also the diplomatic relationship between the two countries,” Mahanta said.
Union MoS for External Affairs RK Ranjan, Chief Ministers of Meghalaya and Nagaland Conrad Sangma and Neiphu Rio, Assam’s Handloom Minister UG Brahma, Arunachal Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, Mizoram’s Tourism Minister Pu Robert Romawia Royte, Tripura’s king Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, senior bureaucrats and industrialists of both the countries are scheduled to be present at the inaugural session.
The focus of the festival will be on highlighting the Northeast region’s Tai culture and a large delegation representing the Tai Ahoms and Tai Khamti communities will present their history, heritage and culture, he said.
“The programme on 30 July will showcase cultural programmes by artistes from all the seven northeastern states, fashion shows, art exhibitions, display of cuisines and musical performances by leading musical bands and singers of the region,” Mahanta said.
The NE state governments will put up an exhibition where MSME entrepreneurs will showcase products from the region with special focus on tea, crafts, handloom, agri-horti products, and tourism potential, among others.
“A series of business-to-business meets have been scheduled with major tour operators of Thailand interacting with the tourism departments and operators in the region,” Mahanta said.
A buyers-sellers interaction will be organised for the sellers of the region and Thai buyers with an aim to promote a market for products of the Northeast.
All state governments of the region, business community and the Indian embassy in Thailand have helped in creating a large platform to create new vistas of opportunity in trade and tourism, Mahanta added. (PTI)
