ITANAGAR, Feb 5 - Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu today attended the 2nd ASEAN-India Youth Summit being held at Guwahati, along with his Nagaland and Tripura counterparts Neiphiu Rio and Biplab Kumar Deb respectively.
Speaking at the event, Khandu spoke on the cultural diversity and geographical vastness of Arunachal Pradesh. He said the North East is often mistaken as one cultural entity, but even a single State like Arunachal has more than 26 tribes and 100 sub-tribes.
The Chief Minister said Arunachal is making tremendous progress in improving air, rail, digital and road connectivity.
On air connectivity, he said all seven ALGs built during 1960s have been rebuilt and operationalised. Once the airport in Itanagar comes up, the ALGs, along with one civilian airport at Tezu, will launch air services within the State by using fixed wing aircraft, said the Chief Minister.
On the ASEAN-India Youth Summit, Khandu said the summit should be held as a calendar event and in different locations across the North East. He said the way forward for such summit is to build greater cultural exchanges and strengthen trade ties.
Speaking to the young participants from ASEAN countries, the Chief Minister requested them to visit different parts of the North East to know the region better.
Khandu later took part in an interactive session on the topic, �Northeast as India�s Gateway to ASEAN�.
