GUWAHATI: Tripura chief minister, Biplab Kumar Deb has said the state would become the “waterways gateway” to Northeast India for South East Asian countries in a year, as he urged young representatives from the ASEAN region to explore investment opportunities in the state.
Addressing young delegates from ASEAN at a session titled “Northeast as India’s Gateway to ASEAN” at the 2nd ASEAN-India Youth Summit here on Tuesday, Deb said, “Tripura is on its way to become the waterways gateway for ASEAN to the Northeast with waterways connectivity linking Sonamura (in Sipahijala district) to Southeast Asia to be ready in a year’s time. Such links will open doors for young people like you to come, explore and invest in the resource-rich state where 60 per cent area is still unexplored.”
Dwelling on the strengths of the state, Deb said Tripura is a power-surplus state with cheapest commercial unit rates. “We sell electricity to Bangladesh and other states of India. Besides an electric motor plant is coming up which will manufacture pollution-free vehicles,” he added.
He further said that after Kerala, Tripura produced the highest quantity of rubber at 80,000MT which would double in two years. “The state also has high potential for gas production which coupled with rubber can open up vistas for tyre manufacturing plants in the state,” Deb said.
The chief minister also touched upon the creation of a single window clearance for business in the state and urged investors from Southeast Asia to avail of the ease of trade facility.
Over 150 delegates from the 10 countries in the ASEAN region are taking part in the summit here.
Earlier, BJP national general secretary, Ram Madhav, Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu and Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio spoke about people-to-people links between ASEAN and Northeast and air connectivity across all the Northeast capital cities.
Urging the ASEAN delegates to explore the region, Madhav said, “The Northeast has come a long way from being a disturbed region to the most peaceful region in the country today. So I urge you all to spend more time on the Internet, explore Northeast as it has great potential for trade and tourism and not just treat the region as a gateway to other parts of India.”
Khandu said that road connectivity has improved substantially in the past four and a half years. “Rural road links too has improved under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). In terms of air connectivity, Arunachal and Nagaland still have scope for upgrade. We need regular flight connectivity to all the Northeast capitals so that we can have better links with the ASEAN region,” he said.