October 06, 2015

The Minister for External Affairs, Her Excellency Smt. Sushma Swaraj held a half day briefing for the Governors of North Eastern States on India's "Act East Policy” on Tuesday, 6 October, 2015. The Briefing Session, which took place at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan, was attended by Shri J.P. Rajkhowa, Hon'ble Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Shri Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya, Hon'ble Governor of Assam and Nagaland, Shri V. Shanmuganam, Hon'ble Governor of Manipur and Meghalaya, Lt. Gen. Nirbhay Sharma, Hon'ble Governor of Mizoram and Shri Shrinivas Patil, Hon'ble Governor of Sikkim.

Secretary (East) and senior officers of the Ministry of External Affairs also participated in the briefing, which covered comprehensively all aspects of India's Act East Policy, with particular focus on how these impacted on the North Eastern region. In her Keynote Address, EAM stated that the North East is a "natural partner in India's Act East Policy,” being our land bridge to ASEAN, and the Act East Policy is a means to strengthen the stability, economy and prospects of our North Eastern region.

The briefing covered various cross-border connectivity projects that are under implementation or discussion, which would link the North East to the wider region including Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand and even Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. Issues of border trade and integrating the North East into regional production and value chains were also discussed, as were steps towards enhancing capacity building and facilitating greater cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

The briefing was undertaken as follow up to a specific recommendation emanating from the Conference of Governors chaired by Rashtrapatiji in February, 2015.

New Delhi
October 6, 2015