Northeast can become major centre for trade and business: President

Kisama (Nagaland), Dec 1 (IANS) Northeast India has a huge strategic importance for the country and can turn itself into a major centre for trade and business, President Pranab Mukherjee said here Sunday.

He said this after inaugurating the Nagaland State's Golden Jubilee Year Celebrations and Hornbill Festival 2013 at Kisama Heritage Village, 12 km from state capital Kohima.

He said his frequent visits to the Northeast region reflect its "strategic importance and the role it can play in the building of a strong and powerful India". Considering the quality of its human resource and its natural resources, Northeast India has tremendous potential to achieve "rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth", he said.

He said this region can become a "magnet for major investments" from the rest of the country as well as abroad. "It can turn itself into a major centre for trade and business". This region constitutes one of India's most important opportunities of the future and it must be given the utmost importance and attention by our political leaders, policy makers and administrators, he said.

The president said the traditions and practices of the Naga people are rich and unique. He called upon the people of the rest of India to discover Nagaland, visit the state, contribute to the local economy and strengthen the bonds that tie different parts of our country and people together.

The president complimented the people and government of Nagaland on having organized the Hornbill Festival 2013 which brings together all Naga tribes in a collaborative effort to preserve, protect and provide new impetus to their rich traditions of music, dance, food and culture.

A commemorative stamp of Nagaland and a coffee table book on the 50th Anniversary of its statehood were also released by the president on the occasion.

Mukherjee said it was impossible to achieve development in the absence of peace and security. He urged all concerned to work towards establishing and maintaining a peaceful environment in the state so that the dreams of the youth can be realized in the shortest possible time.

He called upon Nagaland to lead the way in the building of a new future for India and set an example to the rest of India by showing how the entire region can be transformed into an "area of peace, stability and prosperity".