ITANAGAR, Jan 10: Arunachal Pradesh Industries Minister Tamiyo Taga has urged the Centre for special export package for landlocked and underdeveloped states of the Himalayan region, besides pleading for reopening of trade routes to Myanmar and Tibet region of China through Arunachal, which have been closed since Independence.
“An export oriented Industrial Park needs to be set up in Arunachal which can provide infrastructure support to cane & bamboo based industries with export orientation through private entrepreneurship,” advocated Taga while attending the 4th meeting of the Council for Trade Development and Promotion (CTDP) in New Delhi on Wednesday which was chaired by Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Suresh Prabhu.
Banking facilities with foreign exchange provisions needed to be established at Nampong town of Arunachal on Indian side and at Pangsau on Myanmar side as border trade under Indo-Myanmar sector is the most feasible for the state, he said.
Further, Taga urged the Union Ministry of Commerce to arrange for the certification agency in respect of ‘default’ organic products which are grown by farmers in Arunachal without using any fertilizers.
“Produces of Arunachal like bamboo shoots, kiwi, cardamom, ginger, rubber, oranges etc which have a good market in South Asian countries, are not getting market in mainland India and aboard for want of organic certification,” he said.
An official press note said here that the agenda points in respect of Arunachal Pradesh inter-alia included promotion of spices like large cardamom, black pepper and cinnamon which have good export prospects; constraints in logistics, gaps in export infrastructure, including testing and certification and streaming of regulatory processes. Taga also articulated the perspectives on trade policy adopted by Arunachal to facilitate operationalization of trade infrastructure.
Briefing about the abundantly found rich natural resources, Taga said that exploitation of these resources and converting into commercially sustainable activity for economic growth is yet to be achieved to the desired level in the state. He also highlighted State Govt’s effort to create the basic infrastructure in the form of roads, bridges and industrial infrastructure like power project, industrial estates etc. He also appealed for guidance and help from Centre as the intricacies of foreign export were yet to be understood by the people of Arunachal Pradesh.
Taga also apprised that people of Arunachal have basic knowledge of pig rearing for which sufficient land is available and there is no cultural dilution. Thus big boost for piggery is required by promoting large farm to factory approach having large hogs and cross breeds like that of USA and China for export purposes only, so that India becomes a pork exporting nation. This will require incentive for capital subsidy from the Centre, he suggested.
He also stressed for financial assistance for developing of an Urban Haat at Itanagar, and the need of establishment of a Logistic Hub in the State for storage, cold storage, grading, packaging, transportation/cargo and marketing of large cardamom and other agri-horti products.
Taga further urged to establish cluster based Industrial Corridors along the Trans Arunachal Highway with state-of-the-art cold chain, processing and marketing infrastructure. He also urged the Centre for inter-state integrated domestic trade centres to be set up in feasible inter-state boundary towns.
The Minister was accompanied by Secretary Commerce Onit Panyang and State BJP’s ST Morcha president Hinium Tachu.