Delhi to host Northeast Global Investor Summit-2023 in August

New Delhi/Agartala, April 25 (IANS) To woo investment in the resource rich northeastern region, a mega "Northeast Global Investor Summit-2023" would be held in the national capital this August, officials said here on Tuesday.

A senior official of Tripura Industries and Commerce Department said that the focus sectors of the summit include tourism and hospitality, agrofood processing, textiles, handloom and handicrafts, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, education and skill development, Information Technology and Services, entertainment, sports, tea, energy among others.

Before the summit, a series of activities including state roundtables would be organised in the northeastern states in April-May, road shows in Mumbai (on May 29), Dhaka (Bangladesh) (on June 13), Hyderabad (on June 23) and Kolkata (on July 10).

The outline of the roadshows would include structured B2B and B2G meetings, roundtable conferences, and panel discussions focusing on the investment opportunities in the eight northeastern states of India.

To finalise strategies, deliberate, ideate and explore trade and investment opportunities in the northeast region, a roundtable interaction with bilateral chambers and trade associations in India was recently held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, the official said.

He said that DoNER (Development of Northeast Region) Ministry Joint Secretary Harpreet Singh chaired the roundtable interaction meet, where diplomats and envoys from the US, SAARC, EU, ASEAN, Canada, UAE, Dubai, Japan and Finland took part.

Invest India and FICCI have been onboarded as investment facilitation partner and industry partner respectively. Singh apprised that the event would provide a platform for an immersive collaboration between select foreign embassies, the business communities, financial institutions, and relevant government stakeholders for forging mutually beneficial partnerships towards improving the business and trading ecosystem in the northeastern region.

The DoNER Joint Secretary emphasised that the focus is not solely on the summit but concrete outcomes that would materialise post the Summit. He further urged the delegates to participate proactively in forging mutually beneficial partnership to make the Summit a great success.

"At AiMeD we are delighted with the cabinet decision of announcing a Medical Devices Policy to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi's and & India's aspirations to be not only Atmanirbhar Bharat but also a global key top five suppliers of medical devices worldwide - this was long awaited direction we had sought since initial draft policy of June 2014," Nath told IANS. Nath said the industry is hopeful that the policy details will help boost local manufacturing, help traders and importers to start investing in putting up factories and end the 70-80 per cent import dependency forced upon India and the ever-rising import bill which last year shot up by a steep 41 per cent to over Rs 63,000 crore and make quality healthcare accessible and affordable for common masses worldwide.

He said during the Covid pandemic it was felt the need for a policy to align various government ministries and departments and even the Healthcare Parliamentary Committee recommended to the government to take specific steps to promote Make in India of Medical Devices.

"We hope AiMeD's and the Parliamentary Committee's recommendations are reflected in the policy details and we will see this neglected sector flourish finally as has the mobile phones & toy sector recently with right policy support," Nath added.

The policy aims to place the medical devices on an accelerated growth path with a patientcentric approach to meet the evolving healthcare needs of patients, said Dr. Rajiv Chhibber, Vice President, Sahajanand Medical Technologies Ltd & Joint Coordinator, Government Affairs, AiMeD.

Chhibber also said, the National Medical Policy is also a leap forward to fulfil Modi's vision to have affordable, accessible and innovative solutions towards healthcare, making India Atmanirbhar and a Global MedTech hub, achieving the Vision 2047 aimed at Universal Healthcare for All.