Sujatha Singh, foreign secretary, ministry of external affairs

Guwahati, Feb. 4: The Northeast has an opportunity to overtake the rest of India in terms of planning, urbanisation and economic growth because of its proximity to countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

“The (Northeast) favourable location gives you the chance to go ahead of what the rest of India has done and learn from the mistakes already committed,” Sujatha Singh, foreign secretary, ministry of external affairs, said on the concluding day of the two-day conference on Infrastructure Development in the North East — Leveraging Opportunities, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today.

Delivering a special address at a session on Look East Policy, Singh said, “The foreign investment flowing into Myanmar has been remarkable and you will see a transformation in that country in a few years. But this has to go side-by-side with a transformation in the Northeast through our own domestic efforts. Change is inevitable and the need is to have a vision and look at the larger picture.”

The development of the Northeast, she said, is an objective to be achieved for its own sake. “It is an end in itself. From my perspective, it (the region) is not the means to strengthen our Look East Policy. Rather, our Look East Policy is one of the means we have at our disposal to strengthen India’s Northeast,” the foreign secretary said.

Of late, the Look East Policy has gained strength through several bilateral arrangements with Bangladesh and Myanmar, particularly the Akhaura project linking Bangladesh and the Kaladan multi-modal project between Mizoram and Sittwe port in Myanmar.

“There is a need to harness the region’s economic and commercial potential and raise the standard of living of our people in the region. But before we talk of taking advantage of the economic opportunities that are to be exploited, we must focus on strengthening the Northeast’s economic base and infrastructure,” Singh said.

Speakers at the session dwelt upon the infrastructure development between the Northeast and the neighbouring countries, focusing on logistical links and border management as a basic pre-requisite of economic integration between the region and the South Asian and Asean countries.

“The Northeast is our land bridge to the Asean, a natural partner in India’s Look East Policy. We must also overcome the challenges that each of the region’s borders, be it with Bhutan, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar, pose, to bring lasting peace and prosperity here,” the foreign secretary said.

Members of the Planning Commission, representatives from the Bangladesh high commission, Northeast governments, among others, also spoke over two sessions today.

“On the security front, there are pockets of insurgency, cross-border illegal movement of people, smuggling, drug trafficking and other such issues, which we have been intensively and continuously trying to sort out,” Singh said. ( )