The Assam BJP-led state government’s much-awaited global investor’s summit will be inaugurated today by PM Narendra Modi at Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati. The two-day Advantage Assam Global Investors Summit 2018 is all set to kick-start with the presence of over 2000 domestic and international industry leaders and representatives at Guwahati. Several union ministers including Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Smriti Irani and Kiren Rijiju, are expected to take part in the proceedings.
This summit is the largest ever investment promotion and facilitation initiative by the Government of Assam, India. The Summit aims at highlighting the state’s geo-strategic advantages offered to investors by Assam. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, (FICCI) which has been engaged as the Summit Partner, has been entrusted with the organizing of the Summit with support from the State Government.
Foreign delegations from Bhutan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Myanmar will also take part in the event. Several industry leaders like Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Dilip Shanghvi will be the part of summit deliberations. The maiden Global Investors Summit, 2018 aims to project Assam as India’s expressway to the South-East Asian nations.
Assam, the fastest growing State of North-Eastern India, is at the heart of India’s Act East Policy. Assam has undertaken a number of initiatives in the recent past towards implementation of Ease of doing business framework, creating an enabling policy framework and development of state-of-the-art Industrial Infrastructure to facilitate companies set-up and do business in the State. Assam’s rapidly growing economy, strategic location, and connectivity network make it an ideal staging point for doing business with the ASEAN Countries.
Boosting investment, as some experts believe, is one of the ways to tackle unemployment. However, better connectivity especially road, rail, and the air is an essential instrument for investment generation for a particular place in this era of stiff competition. In order to boost air connectivity, a major private airliner recently has opened regular service connecting the state's capital with some major cities and towns in the state.
The state, embellished with rivers and hills, as experts have opined, still needs more attention from stakeholders to transform itself into a tourism hub. Some potential tourist locations like the scenic place in Dima Hasao district, a hilly area connected with other parts of the state including the capital city Guwahati with rail and road, need wide publicity for transforming themselves as tourist attractions.
The Summit will also highlight investment opportunities in the State, focusing on Power, Agriculture & Food Processing, IT & ITeS, River Transport & Port Townships, Plastics & Petrochemicals, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Equipment, Handloom, Textiles & Handicrafts, Hospitality & Wellness, Civil Aviation and Petroleum and Natural Gas.