By James Khangenbam Imphal Updated Feb 20 2023
The first meet of four B20 sessions, an official G20 dialogue forum for the global business community, scheduled in North East India, was held in Imphal at City Convention Centre, Imphal East Manipur on February 17.
The session held as a part of the G20 summit that has to be organised in various parts of India under the theme “One Earth. One Family. One Nation” was witnessed by delegates from 23 nations. The meet was named a conference on Opportunities for Multilateral Business Partnerships in ICT, Tourism, Healthcare and Handloom and was jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Manipur government.
Addressing the function chief minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh expressed his confidence that the B20 session would enable the state in exploring investors and partnership opportunities as it provides the platform to showcase the potential and strength of the state to visiting nations.
He informed that Manipur with a population of around 2.72 million and an area of over 22,300 sq. km. is the gateway of India to South East Asian countries. The state has the perfect setting for implementing India’s Act East Policy and the State is the bridge between South East Asia and India.
Considering road and connectivity are the key to development, the state government give top priority to improving the road infrastructure. As such road construction is being taken up in several parts of the state not only on national and Asian highways. once the stretch of the Asian Highway within Myanmar gets completed, road travel from Manipur to Bangkok will be possible within 16-18 hours, he added.
He also said that state government has taken up the step to start international flights from Imphal to Mandalay in Myanmar and Bangkok in Thailand. Imphal International Airport would soon have a new integrated terminal and an air cargo terminal. Train services would also reach Imphal City by next year. Feasibility survey of reaching rail line to Moreh connecting Myanmar.
With the vision to promote business and investors, he said that various laws, policies were enacted. The new Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy of Manipur has been adopted, Manipur Industrial Single Window Clearance Act, 2021 was enacted, Manipur Integrated Logistics Policy 2022 was notified, set up land bank policy to provide adequate land for development.
The inaugural session was followed by a plenary session, where topics including Investment Opportunities & Support Ecosystem for doing Business in Manipur, Opportunities in Core Sector, Healthcare & Medical Tourism, Tourism & Hospitality, ICT, Handlooms & Textiles would be deliberated. Representatives of G20 and other countries also addressed the plenary session.
The Inaugural Session of the Conference was also attended by Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Dr R.K. Ranjan Singh; Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Som Parkash; Chief Secretary, Manipur Dr Rajesh Kumar, Joint Secretary (Summits) G20 Secretariat, Government of India, L. Ramesh Babu; Commissioner, Textiles & Commerce, Industries, Government of Manipur, Pradeep K Jha and Member, Confederation of Indian Industry Gopi K More. Ministers, MLAs and high-ranking government officials. It is worth mentioning that representing nations of the B20 are Australia, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Chad, Canada, China, France, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Nepal, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Tunisia, Uganda, the United States and the United Kingdom.
