VISAKHAPATNAM: India is looking to streng-then trade and investment with CMLV states (Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam) as part of the Central government’s Act East Policy, according to a top official from the EXIM Bank of India. The Union government wants to cultivate extensive economic and strategic relations in Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries by way of stimulating investments into the CMLV region from the private sector, EXIM Bank chief general-manager S. Prahalathan Iyer said during the India-ASEAN partnership international conference held here on Saturday.
To catalyse the investments, the government of India had established a project development fund with a corpus of Rs 500 crore to set up manufacturing hubs in CMLV countries through special purpose vehicles (SPVs). The fund would be operated on viable projects through the EXIM Bank. Under this CLMV initiative, the bank has identified Indian investments to set up a pharma manufacturing unit in Vietnam, an educational institute in Myanmar and a multi-speciality hospital in Cambodia.
Detailed project reports are being prepared on which SPVs will be set up in CMLV region to implement these projects, Mr Iyer said. A delegation led by EXIM Bank’s deputy managing director participated in a two-day market familarisation pr-ogramme organised at Phnom Penh in Cambo-dia on February 8-9 and at Yangon in Myanmar on February 6-7. This programme helped provide initial handholding support by way of advisory services and financial support.
According to Visakhapatnam region joint director-general of Foreign Trade, Mr Alok Dwivedi, India’s service oriented economy would complement the manufacturing-based ASEAN economies. Integration with CLMV countries is an important part of the trade strategy. “Our country is still ne-gotiating Regional Com-prehensive Economic Pa-rtnership (RCEP) bet-we-en the 10 member states of ASEAN. When concluded, this agreement would fructify the existing trade relations among these countries. This will cover 40 per cent of global trade and 33 per cent of world GDP,” he said.
On the occasion, Ambassador of Myanmar Moe Kyaw Aung said she appreciated the development of India-Myanmar-Laos-Vietnam-Cambodia highway and extension of India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway to Laos and Cambodia. When asked about the recent arrest of two journalists who were working on the killing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, the diplomat said that they have been following the legal procedure as a law abiding country.
