From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: The Indo-ASEAN Car Rally that was flagged off from the South Indonesian city of Jogjakarta on November 25 last will reach here on December 16 and the flag down ceremony will be marked by an Indo-ASEAN trade conclave on December 17. The car rally is being held to celebrate the 20 years of dialogue partnership of India with Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN.
Assam Industries and Commerce Minister Pradyut Bardoloi on Wednesday informed that the 33-car rally was part of the series of events celebrating 20th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations.
The fleet of SUVs representing all the 11 ASEAN countries would cover more than 8,000 kms touching eight of the ASEAN nations by the time it reaches Guwahati on December 16 next. A formal flag down ceremony will be held in Guwahati on December 17 in the form of a trade conclave among ASEAN nations that would be graced by Union Minister for Industries and Commerce Anand Sharma besides industries and commerce ministers and Ambassadors of some of the ASEAN countries.
The focus areas of the conclave are manufacturing, mining, IT and IT enabled services, education, healthcare, agriculture and food processing, border trade, infrastructure development, air and sea connectivity and cultural exchange.
Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has been entrusted to organise the conclave.
“As part of its Look East Policy, Government of India hopes to have closer ties in various sectors with ASEAN nations and Northeast India being the closest India mass to South East Asia hopes to reap the benefit of it,” Bardoloi said.
He said since the last Indo-ASEAN Car Rally that was flagged off in 2004, the volume of trade between India and ASEAN nations increased from 21 billion US dollars to 57 billion US dollars. Bordoloi said, “Economics precedes politics in present context. And we are looking to this car rally as an opportunity to build bridges for future economic ties.”