India's Northeastern Assam State Profiles Itself as "Expressway to ASEAN"

By Manik Mehta NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Bernama) – India’s northeastern state of Assam is profiling itself as the “expressway to the ASEAN region”, citing the “huge advantages” accruing to potential investors who, not only want to avail of the colossal Indian market but also the neighbouring markets of the ASEAN member countries. Assam is playing up not only to their geographic proximity to the ASEAN region but also highlighting its own richly abundant mineral resources and qualified human capital in Assam. A business delegation from Assam, comprised of Chandra Mohan Patowary, Assam’s Minister of Industries and Commerce, Keshab Mahanta, Minister of Information Technology, and top officials, held a roadshow on Wednesday at the premises of the Indian consulate general in New York, with a large turnout of Indian and American entrepreneurs participating in the event. While ASEAN has been projecting itself as a combined market of some 600 million consumers, Assam is offering itself to potential American and American-Indian investors as a manufacturing and services hub that provides access to a market of nearly 800 million consumers, including Bangladesh and the ASEAN region. Assam wants to attract investments not only from the US but also from the ASEAN member countries which, in return, will have access to India’s burgeoning financially-strong middle class estimated around 400 million and poised to grow further. Ravi Capoor, the additional chief secretary in Assam’s Industries and Commerce Department, who was formerly overall head of ASEAN affairs in the Commerce Ministry and has intimate knowledge of the ASEAN region, made a strong pitch for Assam as an “expressway” to ASEAN. “With India’s ‘Act East’ policy, which is a step ahead of the former ‘Look East’ policy, Assam is positioning itself as a pivot to the ASEAN region and also East Asia. Assam has about 4,800 km of international boundaries in the direction of the ASEAN region. From Assam, you can reach seven country capitals within two hours flying time. Indeed, northeast India Is the economic corridor, a springboard, to Southeast Asia. A major connection from India’s northeastern region is the Trans-Asian Highways called “AH-1/AH-2” project which passes through several points in Assam. Some major projects being executed include the Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project and the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway Projection. “On completion of these projects, trade with ASEAN will get a strong impetus,” Capoor told Bernama on the sideline of the event, adding that Assam is becoming the “destination of choice” for doing business with ASEAN and the other neighbouring economies. Malaysia, which is also developing its solar power industry, can look at possible opportunities inherent in Assam’s solar power and thermal power sector, besides oil and gas, agriculture and food processing, pharmaceutical and medical equipment, rubber, etc. Malaysian engineering and construction companies can also get involved in Assam’s mega infrastructure projects. According to Capoor, India is the biggest supplier of generic pharma products to the United States. Capoor said that Assam, which relies on its waterways for transportation, has signed a protocol with Chittagong port in neighbouring Bangladesh, through which shipments of goods would be facilitated to Southeast Asian ports. -- BERNAMA