New Delhi,May 13:The historic North-East Vision-2020 statement was signed by the Union Minister for North-East Development, Mr. Mani Sankar Iyer in Agartala on Tuesday. Governors and Chief Ministers of the North-East region were present on the occasion.
The purpose of this vision statement is to bring North-East region to the position of national economic eminence and to accelerate development process in this region. It also envisages improvement of agriculture and infrastructure and development of human resources. The vision statement also emphasises on three non-eoconic sectors, especially internal security, good governance and development of initiatives with neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar, considering centre’s " Look East Policy" for overall development of North East region.
Later briefing reporters Mr. Iyer said North East requires 13 lakh crore rupees of investment to bring at par with rest of India. He, however, said it is yet to see whether North East has such capacity to utilise such a huge fund, if made available. Mr. Iyer also appealed North Eastern Council to play the role of Regional Planning Maker, rather than to act as mere funding agency for this region. The two day summit ended on Tuesday.