Guwahati to host ASEAN-India trade conclave
Source: The Sangai Express / Press Trust of India

Guwahati, December 12 2012: Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and senior representatives and ambassadors from all 10 South East Asian countries will be in Guwahati on December 17 for an India-ASEAN Trade Conclave which will focus on increasing business and cultural interaction between the two sides.

The conclave would be held to mark the end of the 8,000 km long India-ASEAN car rally which will culminate in Guwahati the same day.

"The conclave would focus on three major aspectsdevelopment, business and culture.

The conclave is expected to mark another chapter in the relations between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations," Assam Power, Commerce and Industry Minister Pradyut Bordoloi told reporters here today.

He said that besides Sharma, Commerce and Industry ministers of some ASEAN nations are also expected at the conclave along with business delegations from all the South East Asian nations.

Ambassadors to India of all ten ASEAN nations and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, trade and industry minister of all North Eastern states would also participate in the meet.

"Since the first India-ASEAN car rally in 2004, bilateral trade relations between the two sides have jumped from USD 21 billion to USD 57 billion in 2010-11.Assam and the North Eastern states are positioned geographically in such a way that better relations among the two sides would bring major benefits for us," Bordoloi said.

He said ten areas, including mines and minerals, IT and IT enabled services, education, health care, agriculture and food processing, border trade, air and sea connectivity, culture and infrastructure would form part of the deliberations at the conclave.

Bordoloi said Assam would set up a special stall at the conclave to promote its own variant of orthodox tea, which is the most popular tea in the global market.

The India-ASEAN car rally, which started from Yogyakarta in Indonesia on November 26 would enter India through Moreh town in Manipur, pass through Nagaland and then enter Assam.

A total of 125 participants in 33 cars are part of the rally which will pass through eight ASEAN nations.

The 2004 rally had started in Guwahati and culminated in Batam, Indonesia.

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