Kohima, July 13: A senior Planning Commission official who is visiting the Nagaland capital has promised all help for the economic development of the seven sister states.

Jayati Chandra, an IAS officer of the 1975 batch, recently joined the Planning Commission as senior adviser and was assigned the affairs of the Northeast.

She held wide-ranging talks with senior officials of the Nagaland government today.

Chief secretary Lalhuma said from now on, Chandra would be the spokesperson for Nagaland at the Planning Commission.

Officials of the departments of horticulture, agriculture and land resources development made PowerPoint presentations on recent initiatives and innovative and successful projects.

The agriculture production commissioner and principal secretary for industries, Alemtemshi Jamir, made a slide presentation of the communitisation process in the state.

Chandra pointed out that the region has much potential for development, especially in the agricultural, horticultural and allied sectors. She conceded that there were constraints, but argued that it was necessary to work round those.

Bamboo mission

A delegation from China is visiting Nagaland to network on the bamboo industry. Wang Shudong, the director-general of China National Bamboo Research Centre, said today that China and India have abundant bamboo reserves, which need to be exploited.

Addressing a news conference this afternoon, Shudong said, “Since bamboo is an important industry in the 21st century, our team wants to find out more about its plantation, cultivation and production in Nagaland.”

Chief secretary Lalhuma said the state was trying to bring in investors from China and a temporary agreement has already been signed for charcoal baking and activated carbon.

He said the government hopes to sign a “memorandum of association” between the Nagaland Bamboo Research Centre and the China Bamboo Research Centre. A five-member Chinese team also visited the Nagaland Bamboo Research Centre at Dimapur. Two of its members have stayed back to train local people on ways to use bamboo-based carbon units and facilitate technology transfer to the state.