France on Friday expressed its willingness to invest in the Northeastern states and Jammu & Kashmir.
France Ambassador to India, Emmanuel Lenain called on Union DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Friday and conveyed the same.
“The Ambassador conveyed to the Union Minister, the desire of the Government of France to explore the avenues and opportunities of collaboration in different sectors in the Northeastern States as well as tourism and other potentials in Jammu & Kashmir,” official sources said.
During the meeting with the DoNER Minister, Ambassador Lenain discussed potential projects in the Northeastern states.
The Ambassador also recalled the fond memories of his visit to Kashmir valley early this year as a member of the group of Ambassadors visiting the Union Territory of J&K.
DoNER Minister Singh spelt out different sectors in which, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, collaborative initiatives have been undertaken in the Northeast.
In this regard, he referred to the Centre of Excellence Citrus Fruit Park set up at Mizoram with Israeli collaboration and collaboration of Japan in some of the infrastructural works.
Dr Singh said there are vast areas of unexplored potential which were waiting to be explored. These, he said, included tourism, handicraft, handloom as well as food and fruit sectors.
Dr Singh said, Prime Minister Modi has not only given special emphasis to the development of the Northeastern region but also reoriented ‘Look East Policy’ into the “Act East’ policy and has taken a number of steps to increase engagement with the countries across the eastern borders.
In this regard, he also mentioned the Indo-Bangladesh agreement on the exchange of enclaves, which was finalised with the personal intervention of Prime Minister Modi and also the PM’s initiative to amend 100-year-old Indian Forest Act to promote bamboo products and their trade.