Destination Thailand for Naga handicrafts

Kohima, May 9: Thailand could become a good market for Nagaland's handicraft products, provided the demand and supply factors, pricing and local resources were utilised properly, according to the Counsellor (Commercial) of the Royal Thai Embassy.

Addressing the two-day Workshop on Green Technologies and Service in North East - High Returns and Global Opportunities, jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) and Nagaland University at Dimapur yesterday, Thai Counsellor Tharadol Thongruang said the entrepreneurs would have to keep two important things in mind to sell any product in the Thai market- demand and supply- of the product.

Elaborating his point, Mr Thongruang said these products must be of high quality in design and packaging, reasonably priced and add value to their products as the Thai market was a very competitive market.

Nagaland Chief Secretary Lalhuma,who was present in the workshop, presented a case-study of Touphema, a Naga village, under Kohima district, where handloom was encouraged on a large scale. He informed that the handloom produced by Touphema was marketed even in foreign countries, which had made it famous as a handloom village.

He said besides all the inputs from the Thai Embassy officials, it was also important to let the Thai people know about Naga culture and products as a whole, adding that such a policy would encourage the villagers to give up Jhum cultivation as handloom would be more profitable for them.

Delegates from Thailand and other countries, entrepreneurs, NGOs, professionals from different fields and Government officials attended the workshop which was initiated by Deputy Director General of FIEO, Eastern Region, Tapan Chattopadhyaya. He also stated the objectives of the workshop.

UNI