North East region is our land bridge to South East Asia: MEA

New Delhi, Mar 11 : The Chief Ministers of North Eastern States have been invited to participate in the inaugural session of the Delhi dialogue with ASEAN states commencing tomorrow as the North East region is India's 'land bridge' to South East Asia, a vital component of the country's 'Act East' policy, disclosed Secretary East of the Ministry of External Affairs, Wadhwa to the media here today.

"The North East region is our land bridge to South East Asia. As in the previous years, as a step to integrate North East India with the ASEAN region, as envisioned in India's Look East/Act East Policy, the Chief Ministers of North Eastern states have been invited to be part of the inaugural session of the Delhi Dialogue VII to share their vision of participating in the ASEAN-India strategic partnership," MEA Secretary (East) Anil Wadhwa told the media here today , ahead of the seventh edition of the Delhi Dialogue 'ASEAN-India: Shaping the post 2015 Agenda'.

Wadhwa further said that the 2015 edition of the Delhi Dialogue has come at a crucial time for strengthening the partnership between India and the ASEAN nations.

"This year's Delhi Dialogue assumes even more salience on two accounts. One, it comes in an year which is a milestone in the history of ASEAN, as it moves towards the ASEAN Economic Community which is the culmination of decades-old economic integration efforts to create a free market for goods, services, investment, capital, and skilled labour. Secondly, it comes at a time when our own foreign policy has entered an era of new vigour and dynamism as our erstwhile 'Look East Policy' transforms into an 'Act East Policy'," he said.

The Delhi Dialogue VII, which will start tomorrow , will see participation of Thailand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister; Cambodia Minister of Education, Indonesia Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister and ASEAN Deputy Secretary General .