GUWAHATI, Oct 27 � Focusing on India�s Look East Policy with regard to the North East region, the Jadavpur Association of International Relations (JAIR), a non-profit and non-governmental organization, is going to organize a conference on �North East in India�s Look East: Issues and Opportunities� in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati from October 28 to October 30.
To be held at the IIT-G conference hall, the conference is supported by the External Publicity and Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS), Kolkata.
Addressing media persons here, Dr Imankalyan Lahiri, general secretary of JAIR said that more than 100 scholars and foreign policy experts from different parts of the country would gather in Guwahati for the conference. The JAIR has also organized conferences in Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya in the recent past focusing on the Look East Policy.
The inaugural ceremony of the conference will be held on October 28 at the IIT-G at 10am.
Anil Wadhwa, Secretary, East, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India will deliver the special address on October 29, at 2.30 pm.
�The North East of India is the bridge between two sub-regions of Asia � South Asia and South-East Asia. Both regions are in the midst of tremendous positive change, spurred by economic growth and development. However, we in India have so far to a large extent not been able to leverage the various opportunities that this sub-region of India offers for the well-being and prosperity of the people who live here,� he said.
�Today�s challenge is to harness these opportunities to ensure that growth and development does not bypass this region but passes by this region. There has been growing realization on the part of Indian policy makers that development of physical connectivity with Southeast Asia is a prerequisite to fully harness the opportunities provided by �Look East Policy�,� he added.
The primary objective of the JAIR was to emerge as an academic platform for serious international studies. One of the fundamental missions of JAIR is to analyse India�s foreign policy in the contemporary years and to develop goodwill amongst the nations of the region of South and Southeast Asia by securing India�s position in the region.
