By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : Tripura’s development is not possible without Bangladesh’s support as 80% of Tripura shares its border with Bangladesh”, said Tripura’s Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb at the ongoing Indo-Bangladesh stakeholders meet at Guwahati, Assam, on Tuesday.To prove his point, Biplab stated that the Chittagong port was meant for the development of the Northeast, but due to partition it was moved to Pakistan, and later, to Bangladesh. He further added that Haldia port is the nearest port that is nearest to the Northeastern states.“Due to less surface area for water transportation, Tripura is dependent on road connectivity, resulting in huge losses to the State exchequer”, Biplab stated. Terming Northeastern states as “eight Lakshmis”, Biplab said that the 4.5 crore population region is a hub of resources from minerals, oil fields, tourism spots, hornbill, among others.Biplab stated that the business in the Northeast has great scope, and tourism is being boasted through air connectivity. Biplab also suggested that the “immigration points” can be used as a point of transportation between the two countries in Tripura, in order to reduce the long routes.

Import and export of products entails the investment of huge amounts of money, but if that trade route is moved to Tripura’s border it will be reduced, he said. “All are Indian borders then why not through the Northeastern borders?”, he queried. Meanwhile, The focus is on improving its connectivity with the neighbouring country to get best of the rest under Act East Policy for the host Assam.The technical sessions will have discussions on connectivity aspects as the broad theme, with several sessions planned to specifically focus on road agreements, cross border surface route trade and port use agreements.A 70-member delegation from Bangladesh is participating in the meet, while a similar top-level team will represent the host nation.The idea of the meet is to put Assam at the focus point of India’s trade expansion with Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. Business meet on agriculture, mines and minerals, tea and infrastructure will also be held during the meet.

The two-day India-Bangladesh Stakeholders Meet has begun in Guwahati. Assam and Tripura Chief Ministers, Commerce Minister of Bangladesh Tipu Munshi, Road Transport and Highway Minister of State V K Singh took part in the inaugural ceremony among others. Addressing the gathering Riva Ganguly Das, India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh said that India accords top priority in our relations with Bangladesh. Ms Das said that India is committed development partner of Bangladesh and trade and commerce between the 2 countries are gradually improving.  Assam Industry Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, in his welcome address, said that a lot of opportunities opened between the two countries during the past couple of years for the growth of North East. Our  North East Correspondent reports that the idea of the India- Bangladesh Stakeholders Meet is to put Assam at the focus point of India’s trade expansion with Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. Business to Business Meet on agriculture, mines and minerals, tea and infrastructure will also be held during the meet. It may be recalled that improving connectivity is important for Act East Policy through which the country is eyeing to extend its reach in the South East Asian markets.