India today said the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) was very crucial to its Act East Policy and asked the member states to work on increasing maritime and air connectivity with the country and transform corridors of connectivity into corridors of trade.
"MGC is the first and oldest among all Mekong initiatives. It is reflective of the civilisationalbondsthatconnectthe Mekong countries to India. The MGC holds averysignificant place in our Act East Policy, andtogether we allstand committed to energizing this initiative to our mutual benefit," Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh told the MGC Ministerial meeting in Vientiane, Laos today.
He asked the member states to avail the USD 1 billion Line of Credit announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 for connectivity projects to digitally bond with India.
Singh said Indiawouldtrain one representative each from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand in museology and conservation techniques, under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme .
The minister stressed thatenhancingconnectivity between the Mekong region and India was a priority for India.
"While India has made progress in implementing the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan Multimodal Project, we would seek your assistance in early finalisation of the Motor Vehicles Agreement to facilitate soft connectivity issues pertaining to the Trilateral Highway," the minister said in his address.
This was also important if we seek to extend the Highway to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, he added.
He also stressed on the need toincrease maritime and air connectivity between MGC countries as well as India and transforming the corridors of connectivity into corridors for economic cooperation.
India provides over 900 scholarships to MGC countries annually under the bilateral and multilateral tracks.
Singh announced 50 new scholarships for MGC countries, in areas such as culture, tourism, engineering, management teachers'training, film directing, sound, and lighting.
He askedall MGC partner countries to optimally utilise these scholarships "which will not only serve as a stepping stone for capacity building but also enhance mutual understanding".
The MGC is an initiative by six countries - India and five ASEAN countries, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam for cooperation in tourism, culture, education, as well as transport and communications.
It was launched in 2000 at Vientiane, Laos.
Both the Ganga and the Mekong are civilisational rivers, and the MGC initiative aims to facilitate closer contacts among the people inhabiting these two major river basins.
The MGC is also indicative of the cultural and commercial linkages among the member countries of the MGC down the centuries.
