From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: The Indo-ASEAN car rally that was formally flagged down here in a spectacular ceremony has affirmed Northeast India’s strategic position for the purpose of boosting ties between India and ASEAN nations.
Underlining the fact, Dr Cham Prasidh, senior minister of commerce, Cambodia, who participated in the flag down ceremony said, “Northeast India is not an enclave, but a gateway to ASEAN. This car rally has proved that ASEAN and India are effectively connected by road which is important for improving bilateral relations.”
Referring to the summit at New Delhi from December 20-21 to commemorate two decades long ASEAN-India dialogue partnership, Dr Prasidh said, “We hope that the leaders will announce steps to boost strategic ties between the ASEAN and India.”
The 31-car rally was flagged down in a colourful ceremony here after it had travelled a distance of 8,000 kilometres across nine nations with 124 participants taking part in this 22-day long journey that started from southern Indonesian city of Jogjakarta on November 26.
Indian Minister of State for Industry and Commerce Dr D Purandeshwari said India shares ASEAN’s common vision of regional peace and prosperity. She said the 21st century is poised to be of Asia and all stakeholders must work together to achieve it.
“This car rally symbolizes a new phase in ASEAN-India relations. It establishes our land connectivity, our physical and sentimental connectivity,” Dr Purandeshwari added.
She informed that the Government of India was working to improve connectivity, logistics and infrastructure in Northeastern States which is the closest landmass to ASEAN bloc, to pave the way for a new era of cooperation and bilateral trade.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi hoped that India and ASEAN would work together to further exploit each other’s potential and resources, both natural and human, to usher in an era of greater mutual cooperation.
President of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Adi Godrej said the car rally had underscored the potential of partnership between the nations and NE India could serve as the gateway to ASEAN for India.
“Global economic activities will shift to Asia and connectivity is key to economic activities,” Mr Godrej added.
The ASEAN-India car rally 2012 was organized by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, and CII. It is the second such car rally, the earlier ASEAN-India car rally travelled along the same route from Guwahati (India) to Indonesia in 2004.