| Rokiah Mahmud in New Delhi |
A GROUP of 20 journalists from 10 ASEAN member countries landed in Guwahati in the Indian state of Assam on July 16 on a three-day visit to Assam under the ASEAN-India Media Exchange programme.
During the visit, the group visited the Guwahati Indian Institute of Technology, Numaligargh Refinery Limited and paid a courtesy call on the Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal.
The visiting journalists comprised representatives from the 10 ASEAN member countries including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos PDR, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines.
The ASEAN–India Media Exchange programme is an annual programme through the ASEAN Secretariat to provide exposure to the ASEAN media on contemporary developments in India. The programme is coordinated by the External Affairs Ministry of the Government of India.
During the visit, the journalists made a courtesy call on Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at his office conference room at Janata Bhawan.
At the meeting, the Assam Chief Minister called upon the visiting journalists from ASEAN member countries to work with a common vision and goal to boost regional economy and connectivity to renew the age-old relations between Assam and the ASEAN member nations.
The chief minister also urged the journalists to push forward the Assam government’s initiatives in their respective nations for improved connectivity, especially air connectivity between Guwahati and the capital cities of the ASEAN member countries, and setting up consulates of ASEAN member nations in Guwahati.
As next door neighbours, ASEAN and Guwahati have a common history that started with Chaolung Sukafa’s arrival in Assam from Yunnan. Assam’s government wanted to establish a stronger relationship and bring it to a new dimension through regular exchange of dialogue for better connectivity and trade and commerce, he added.