Shillong's international trade fair draws many countries

By D. Henpilen

Meghalaya, Apr 15 : Ninth international trade fair in Shillong has been a success in getting business deals for the region.

A business delegation from Kenya has extended an invitation to Meghalaya Urban Affairs Minister Paul Lyngdoh to initiate exchange programmes between the northeastern state and the east African country.

The fair saw participation by many countries. As many as 180 stalls, including 19 from Thailand, one each from Kenya and Nepal and several others from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan drew crowds.

"I will encourage all the other Kenyan companies to come to this expo because I can see there is great potential for exchange," said Isabella, stall owner fromenya.

There were 25 stalls put up by various entrepreneurs from the northeastern states with help from the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC).

The commercial counselor of the Thai Embassy in India, Tharadol Thongruang stressed the need to improve bilateral trade between India and Thailand.

"In terms of relationship between Thailand and this region, I am very happy because right now, we have a high-ranking officer including the Minister of Commerce from Thailand and Minister of DONER from India. We will have a lot of investor from Thailand in this region," said Tharadol.

Secretary of the Industries and Trade Fair Association of Assam Rajeev Das said the move is aimed at encouraging a healthy competition among entrepreneurs from Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya and Assam.

The trade fair also gave an opportunity to the local people to buy products from other areas at reasonable price.

"Khasi (a tribe in Meghalaya) people are really nice. They really like it and I also really appreciate them. My things are reasonable and the products are good," said Niloufer Rahman, stall owner from Assam.

ANI