Nirmala bats for India-SEA trade boost
JAIPUR: Bilateral trade between India and in Southeast Asia (SEA) countries is set to get a boost as the centre has expedited the work to improve sea and road connectivity, said Nirmala Sitharaman, union minister of state for commerce and industry.
She was addressing mediapersons on the sidelines of the fourth India-CLMV (Cambodia, Laos PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam) business conclave in Jaipur on Monday. “Sittwe is a major port in Myanmar. If Sittwe is connected with Bay of Bengal ports – Visakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam and also south Chennai or even further up to Haldia and Paradaip, a lot of trade which goes from India to these SEA countries can go and land in Sittwe and from there go to Myanmar and other CLMV countries,” she said.
The government is also working on expediting the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway, which will link India with Myanmar and further to SEA. These routes will open up Northeast India to the economies of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).
The union minister said that India and Bangladesh are working on an undersea link for Internet facility. The project will improve the Internet connectivity of the Northeastern states.
She said there were immense possibilities of collaboration between India and CLMV in the fields of handicraft, textile, tourism, pharmaceuticals and agriculture equipment manufacturing. To facilitate the investments, the Union Cabinet last year had cleared a proposal to create ₹500 crore project development fund to increase economic presence in CLMV. Earlier addressing the inaugural session, chief minister Vasundhara Raje said that Rajasthan and CLMV can engage in a number of sectors, specifically in the field of renewable energy, manufacturing, agriculture sector, healthcare, tourism and skill development.