With 12 foreign ambassadors scheduled to participate in the summit and a special session on Thailand-Indian business opportunities, the fourth Northeast Business Summit, to be held Sep 15-16 in Guwahati, Assam, promises to boost the area's trade and economic relations with the neighbouring countries.
With sessions on IT, tourism, agro and food processing, handloom and cottage industries, and energy besides others, the summit will see the participation of six of the eight chief ministers of the northeastern region.
Minister of Development of Northeast Region Mani Shankar Aiyer, while formally announcing the summit at a press meet here Thursday, said he was confident that the region would catch up with the national average growth rate.
“At present, with a four percent growth rate, the northeastern region is less than half of the national average growth rate. But with more companies coming in to invest in the area - and we will meet many of them in the summit - I am sure that the vision to pull up the region by 2020 will be fulfilled,” Aiyer said.
“Also it's a healthy sign that so many foreign investors, especially from the Southeast Asia, have shown interest in the region. A total of 97 companies, of which 14 are interested in tourism, have shown interest in investing in different sectors in the region,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Also it's a healthy sign that so many foreign investors, especially from the Southeast Asia, have shown interest in the region. A total of 97 companies, of which 14 are interested in tourism, have shown interest in investing in different sectors in the region,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“It's encouraging that the ambassador of Italy, the Nordic ambassador, Arab heads, an Australian business delegation, Russian federation among others, have shown interest to travel in the region and look at investment options," he said.
The minister added that a total of 48 foreign delegates would participate in the summit, besides the high commissioners and ambassadors of Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Arab League, Bhutan and Czech Republic.