Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has implemented steps on the ground to turn the country's landlocked northeastern region into a "production hub" of Southeast Asia,
Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told reporters at his official residence in New Delhi on Friday.
Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told reporters at his official residence in New Delhi on Friday.
The theme of the press conference was 'Empowering the North-East: A Transformational Decade towards Atmanirbhar Bharat'.
"PM Modi’s Act East Policy is looking to make the northeast as an important hub of Southeast Asia, and not only India. Various steps are being taken to achieve the goal, which has given a sense of empowerment to the citizens," said Sonowal, who's also a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), from the northeastern region.
The region's connectivity, healthcare, industry and education infrastructure have undergone rapid transformation since 2014, when PM Modi took office, Sonowal emphasised.
"The region was neglected before that... We used to see problems like militancy and illegal migration, which affected the development trajectory of the region. The northeast wasn’t able to realise its full growth potential," the minister stated.
He said that as a result of a coordinated approach by various government agencies, the "aspirations" of the seven northeastern states are being realised.
In recent years, India has taken steps to provide sea access to the landlocked region, which comprises seven states, through ports in Myanmar and Bangladesh. Last year, Sonowal inaugurated the first cargo vessel between India's Kolkata Port and Sittwe in Myanmar, a route which is part of the under-development Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP).
In essence, the project seeks to transport goods from India's eastern seaboard to Sittwe, which would then be transported up the Kaladan river near the Indian border, and then by road to the northeastern states.
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar has said that the government was planning to connect the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean through an overland route, which would comprise the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and the India-Middle-East-Europe-Economic Corridor (IMEC). However, the work on developing the trilateral highway has been in a suspended state due to the security situation in Myanmar.