Mukul Sangma inaugurates third Act East Business Show, 2016

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma today inaugurated the third Act East Business Show, 2016 under the theme "Strengthening South East Asian with NE India" in presence of representatives from South East Asian nations, here at the State Central Library premises.
The three-day programme was organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in collaboration with the Department of Commerce and Industries, Government of Meghalaya which was being attended by a FBCCI business delegation from Bangladesh and representatives from Nepal, Laos PDR and Thailand among others.
Round table discussions on sectors, themes and issues would also be held in the next two days.

Delivering the inaugural address, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma looked back on how the persistent efforts and engagement of the North Eastern states with the Centre had set the ball rolling for strengthening trade and business ties across the borders.
He expressed gratitude to the ICC for providing a platform for taking forward this initiative to a higher level.
The signing of BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement was a result of this effort, he said.

Sangma was upbeat about the positive response from the Centre after the NE states had taken up with it for increased connectivity in the region, as a result of which a number of National Highways are coming up.

The Centre has also identified potential rivers of North East for National Inland Waterways and five of such rivers were in Meghalaya alone, he said adding, "Five years from now, any area in the region that has business potential will be well connected."
The Chief Minister said there was a lot of potential in the region on possibilities of using bamboo and biomass as alternative energy sources and also capture Meghalaya's potentiality in wind and solar energy.
On issues that create barriers in business across the borders, which was brought up by the President of FBCCI, Abdul Matlub Ahmad, the Chief Minister assured such issues would be taken up collectively and thanked Bangladesh for opening up borders for trade and commerce and people to people contact more aggressively.

Ahmad in his address expressed keenness to invest in many sectors in Meghalaya and had sought the Chief Minister's intervention for having more than one entry point to the state and for having a testing laboratory in Dawki as Bangladesh would want to export its food products to the state.
He also called for declaring Shillong and Sylhet as twin cities for forging stronger friendship between Meghalaya and Bangladesh.
Nepal Ambassador in India Deep Kumar Upadhyay, Ambassador of Laos PDR, Southam Sakonhninhnom, Second Director, Thai SME Association Anong Intharak were among others who also addressed the inaugural session.
ICC President Shiv Siddhant Kaul and Director General, ICC, Dr Rajeev Singh also spoke on the occasion.