Guwahati, May 29: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said that the Centre has been implementing various rail, road and air connectivity projects worth Rs 1,34,200 crore in the north-eastern states.

Addressing ‘ADI (River) Conclave 2022’ in Guwahati, Sitharaman said, “Not just this region but the connectivity with the entire South East Asian nations can be built and developed culturally in terms of the civilisation… riverine civilisation, we have so much in common and we have also to leverage it so that people to people contact gets built up.”

She said that the connectivity with Bangladesh and other Southeast Asian nations can be built and developed culturally in terms of riverine civilisation.

“Government of India is fully committed to our Neighbourhood First Policy as much as developing the northeast as the Gateway to the entire South East Asian nations,” he stressed.

According to her, the connectivity projects in the north-eastern region include 20 railway projects worth Rs 74,000 crore for 2,011 km, 4,000 km of roads at a total cost of Rs 58,000 crore.

India’s External Minister Dr S. Jaishankar, his Bangladesh counterpart A.K. Abdul Momen and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also spoke at Saturday’s inaugural session of ‘NADI Conclave-2022’ organised by Shillong based think tank and research group ‘Asian Confluence’.

The Finance Minister also appreciated the organisers – Asian Confluence – for focusing on the five Cs which are – Commerce, Culture, Connectivity, Conservation and Capacity Building. “The organisers have kept five Cs as its focus areas. I was so impressed that they could pick up all that Cs and actually these Cs focus on those critical areas in which enough focus has to be given. If NADI and the name itself is talking about inter-connectivity, it certainly builds on culture and commerce,” she said.

Sitharaman further added, “So these five Cs give us the five pillars that this conclave will have to focus on. These Cs essentially capture all the areas which are so critical for our Northeast.”

The Union Finance Minister also mentioned the Government of India’s projects to enhance the connectivity in northeast India and its neighbouring countries.

Assam Chief Minister who delivered the special remarks shared the vision of the state government of developing Assam as a river cruise hub in Asia. “We’ve made our best efforts to give tangible shape to our connectivity with Bangladesh and ASEAN nations through road, rail and air,” Sarma said.