BANGKOK, Jul 30: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein while speaking at the inaugural session of the 2nd edition of North East India Festival at Bangkok in Thailand  highlighted the huge tourism potential and investment opportunities in Arunachal Pradesh in his inaugural speech today.
 Apart from highlighting interesting facts about the state and it's people, he also etched out the religious and cultural similarities with Thailand and Southeast Asian countries.
"Buddhism is spread across the length and breadth of Arunachal with Mahayana Buddhism being practised in western Arunachal like Tawang, Dirang, Bomdila and central part of Taksing, Mechuka and Tuting while Theravada Buddhism is followed in Namsai & Changlang districts in the eastern part of Arunachal," Mein said.
He highlighted the popularity of the 400-year old Tawang Gompa of Gelukpa Sect and 400-year old Gompa at Mechukha of Ningmapa Sect, Kongmukham (Golden Pagoda) in Namsai district as a tourist destination. "Thousands of people mostly Theravada Buddhist devotees especially Thai tourists visit this place every year. Thai monks and nuns spend their three months lent period at Kongmukham," Mein said.
Considering the religious & cultural similarities, Mein further proposed to create a Tai Tourist Circuit apart from the Buddhist Circuit in the region to attract Buddhist devotees and Tai tourists from the South East Asian Countries including Thailand in North East Region.
Mein further stated that apart from investment in Tourism and Industry, Arunachal Pradesh has huge scope for investment in agriculture technology, agro-food processing industries and in Hydro-Power sectors because of the large-scale production of good quality agriculture products like ginger, turmeric, large cardamom, oranges and kiwi, etc and its capacity to generate more than 50,000 MW Hydro-Power. He further informed that the Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh is committed to make the state an ideal investment destination and the state govt is ready to provide single window clearance and necessary approvals in a time bound manner to investors.

“Improved road communication due to fast developing highways and air connectivity in prominent places across the state in recent years have made the major tourist places like Pasighat, Tezu, Ziro, Aalo, Tawang & Mechukha easily accessible to tourists," he added.
While lauding the Organizer, the Indian Embassy in Thailand and Trend MMS, he asserted that it will go a long way in further deepening the historical bond and bilateral relations & open new vistas for people to people connect between India & Thailand, particularly with the North East India and South East Asian countries.
The festival was inaugurated by Jurin Laksanawisit, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Commerce, Kingdom of Thailand in presence of Union Minister of State for External Affairs, R K Ranjan, Chief Minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Riu, CM of Meghalaya, Conrad Sangma, Minister of Tourism (Arunachal), Nakap Nalo, Minister of Textile (Assam),  Urkhao Gwra Brahma, Minister of Tourism (Mizoram), Pu Robert Romawia Royte, Ambassador of India to Kingdom of Thailand, Mrs Suchitra Durai and hosts of other dignitaries.
The three day festival will showcase the cultural similarities between India & Thailand and the cultural diversities of North East India in which large delegates of Industrialists, Tour Operators & cultural troupes from Thailand and North East India are participating in the festival.
Director Tourism, Abu Tayeng, apart from officials from Tourism Department, Tour Operators and 30 member delegation & cultural troupes from Namsai District are also participating in the festival. Exhibition stalls were also put up by the Department of Tourism, and Tai Khamti Heritage & Literary Society(TKHLS) at the venue.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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