NEW DELHI: With regional connectivity between the North East and the neighboring countries all set to get a boost with no restriction on movement of vehicles among the countries, the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on Monday urged the Centre to support a car rally from Manipur to Thailand via Laos and Myanmar.
A delegation of ICC led by its President, Shiv Siddhant Kaul called on Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Jitendra Singh and also requested him to chair the 9th Northeast Business Summit scheduled to be held at Guwahati early February.
Singh congratulated Kaul for having taken over as President of ICC for the year 2015-16. He hoped that ICC would be able to finalize futuristic initiatives in addition to carrying forward some of the earlier initiatives.
“North East offers tremendous opportunities for investment, generating job employability and above all, becoming a part of the present Government’s Make in Northeast – Make in India and Start-up India missions,” Singh added.
The members of the ICC delegation appreciated the fast track progress made by DoNER Ministry for improving connectivity and linkages not only within the region but also with the immediate neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile, in a major push towards sub-regional cooperation, four South Asian countries are set to sign an agreement on June 15 to allow movement of vehicles through their borders just like in the 27 European Union countries. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) have finalised the deal for a seamless transit of passenger, personal and cargo vehicles among their countries by end of 2015.
The agreement will allow vehicles to ply designated routes in the four countries and reduce cost and time of unloading and loading of people and goods at the borders, making cross-border trade more efficient, officials said. There will also be a trial run of a bus route from Dhaka to Thimpu through Siliguri, sources said.
