North East India Festival at Bangkok: Dy CM highlighted tourism potentials in Arunachal Pradesh
Speaking on the religious & cultural similarities, Mein said that Buddhism spread across the length and breadth of the State with Mahayana Buddhism in western Arunachal like Tawang, Dirang, Bomdila and Central part of Arunachal.
BANGKOK- Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Chowna Mein while speaking at the inaugural session of 2nd edition of North East India Festival at Bangkok in Thailand have highlighted the huge tourism potentials and investment opportunities in Arunachal Pradesh in his inaugural speech today.
Highlighting some interesting facts about Arunachal Pradesh, he informed that Arunachal Pradesh, the Land of Rising Sun, where the sun first rises in India has lots to offer to tourists in terms of adventure tourism, wildlife tourism, spiritual tourism, ecological tourism, cultural/rural tourism and leisure tourism because of its fastest free-flowing rivers & high terrains, rich biodiversity, dense forests with unique flora & fauna, diverse cultures and scenic beauties.
He further said that the 26 major tribes and over 100 sub-tribes of the State with their own distinct cultures & traditions celebrate numbers of festivals round the year making it a land of festivals and colourful dances where one can experienced different kinds of tribal cultures and taste different local cuisines.
For leisure activities, Arunachal Pradesh offers some of the most picturesque locations, one can spend holidays and do sight-seeing, nature walk, local market shopping, snowfall experience, camping, and road trips, he informed.
Speaking on the religious & cultural similarities, Mein said that Buddhism spread across the length and breadth of the State with Mahayana Buddhism in western Arunachal like Tawang, Dirang, Bomdila and Central part of Arunachal like Taksing, Mechuka and Tuting and Theravada Buddhism at Namsai & Changlang Districts in Eastern Part has its deep similarities with people of Thailand and South East Asian Countries.
He further said that apart from 400 years old Tawang Gompa of Gelukpa Sect and 400 years old Gompa at Mechukha of Ningmapa Sect, Kongmukham (Golden Pagoda) in Namsai district has become a popular tourist destination. Thousands of people mostly Theravada Buddhist devotees especially Thai tourists visit this place every year. Thai Monks and Nuns spent their three months lent period at Kongmukham. He said, “it has also become a holy site for Mega Sangken (Sangkram) Festivals were 10,000-20,000 people from different parts of the State come to take part during Sangken Festival”.
Considering the religious & cultural similarities, Mein further proposes to create a Tai Tourist Circuit apart from the Buddhist Circuit in the region to attract Buddhist devotees and Tai tourists from the South East Asian Countries including Thailand in North East Region.
Mein further stated that apart from investment in Tourism and Industry, Arunachal Pradesh has huge scope for investment in agriculture technology, agro-food processing industries and in Hydro-Power sectors because of the large-scale production of good quality agriculture products like Ginger, Turmeric, Large Cardamom, Oranges and Kiwi, etc and its capacity to generate more than 50,000 MW Hydro-Power.
He further informed that the Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh is committed to make Arunachal Pradesh an ideal investment destination and the State Govt is ready to provide single window clearance and necessary approvals in a time bound manner to investors.
He said, “improved road communication due to fast developing highways and air connectivity in prominent places across the State in recent years have made the major tourist places like Pasighat, Tezu, Ziro, Aalo, Tawang & Mechukha easily accessible to tourists”.
While lauding the Organizer, the Indian Embassy in Thailand and Trend MMS, he asserted that it will go a long way in further deepening the historical bond and bilateral relations & open new vistas for people to people connect between India & Thailand, particularly with the North East India and South East Asian countries.
The festival was inaugurated by Jurin Laksanawisit, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Commerce, Kingdom of Thailand in presence of Union Minister of State for External Affairs, R K Ranjan, Chief Minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Riu, CM of Meghalaya, Conrad Sangma, Minister of Tourism (Arunachal), Nakap Nalo, Minister of Textile (Assam), Urkhao Gwra Brahma, Minister of Tourism (Mizoram), Pu Robert Romawia Royte, Ambassador of India to Kingdom of Thailand, Mrs Suchitra Durai and hosts of other dignitaries.
The three days festival will showcase the cultural similarities between India & Thailand and the cultural diversities of North East India in which large delegates of Industrialists, Tour Operators & cultural troupes from Thailand and North East India are participating in the festival.
Director Tourism, Abu Tayeng, apart from officials from Tourism Department, Tour Operators and 30 Members delegates & cultural troupes from Namsai District are also participating in the festival. Exhibition Stalls were also put up by the Department of Tourism, GoAP and Tai Khamti Heritage & Literary Society(TKHLS) in the venue.
