India-Asean ties to benefit country: Natwar

Asserting that India-Asean relations had the potential of turning into a mutually beneficial partnership, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh today said the north-east region could become a bridge in building this association due to its strategic location.

"The scope of engagement between India and Asean has intensified over the years. We became dialogue partners in 1995 and summit partners in 2002. This partnership needs more depth and substance and north east has an important role to play," he said inaugurating conference on "North east - India's gateway to Asean" at the IIT campus here.

The minister pointed out that north east region had rich natural and human resources and these can provide tremendous opportunities for entrepreneurs to invest here and contribute in taking forward the economic relations with the Asean region.

The first India-Asean car rally, flagged off by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today, would surely promote socio-economic co-operation between the people and business community as it has turned the focus of nations towards infrastructure development.

The rally has negated the misconception that north east was landlocked, hampering its development, and it showed that the region has a fantastic trade potential, Singh said.

Even former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who mooted the idea of this rally last October, should not have thought that it would become such a major event which would have significant role to play in trade, tourism and people-to-people contact between India and Asean, he said.

Asean secretary-general Ong Keng Yong said this was the first time that the South East Asian countries were giving undivided attention to frontier areas and the car rally has provided a great opportunity to open up the boundaries.

Insisting that the rally was only first of the many public initiatives that would be taken up in strengthening India-Asean relations, he said the north east should focus on 5 Ts ""trade, tourism, training, transportation and technology"" to carry forward its quest for economic development.

Yong also hoped the rally would prove as a catalyst for North east's quantum leap towards economic development and prosperity.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi listed the rich potential of the state and the region and emphasised that their was great scope for promoting trade and tourism in the area.