Northeast MPs seek exclusive investment policy for region

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Northeast MP Forum has urged Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal to formulate an investment policy specifically for the region.

Forum chairman Kiren Rijiju and other forum members met the Union Minister yesterday. They discussed a New India Investment Policy for the North Eastern Region. Justifying the demand for a Northeast-specific investment policy, FINER (Federation of Industry and Commerce of North Eastern Region) gave a presentation before the Union Minister on behalf of the forum.

Goyal appreciated the ideas put forward by the team and assured the forum members that it would introduce a new policy acknowledging the current issues of the Northeast.

The team said that the Northeast needed an exclusive investment policy because –

(i) the landlocked region shares over 98 per cent international borders, and its border trade is still at primitive levels,

(ii) the partition of India cut off the traditional routes in the Northeast afflicted by inhospitable terrains, the legacy of conflicts and insurgency etc.,

(iii) the cost of doing business is high due to the import of raw materials and the sale of finished products in regional markets with fewer opportunities for export or movement out of the region,

(iv) small regional markets have low-purchasing power in the region that has a population of around four crores, and

(v) unemployment, migration, lack of talent and skilled workforce.

Union Shipping and Waterway Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was also present at the presentation. The Forum also said that the region needed an exclusive investment policy to tempt mega investors. The Forum presented suggestions and propositions like the establishment of a centre of excellence on various Crops and Defence and Railways related industrial projects, high-priority actions on land customs modernization for opening border trade across the region, more inland container depots in the region etc.

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