Assam govt to set up 'Act East' department

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday announced that his government would set up an 'Act East' department to connect and take forward the Centre's Act East Policy.

"My government will take the initiative to set up 'Act East' department to implement the Prime Minister's vision to connect the North East with South East Asia," Sonowal said.

The state government has started the 'Ease of Doing Business' policy and "we are prepared to facilitate global and national investors in the region so that it can become a vibrant economic gateway to South East Asia," he said.

"Assam government is also planning to set up two global business centres to provide space to investors so that they can function from here," he said while addressing the 'Boost your Business' programme organised by Facebook in collaboration with the state government.

Sonowal said that the world has become a global village and the youth should come forward and explore the north eastern region's potential and prospects through proper utilisation of resources available.

The priority of this government was to work towards a better Assam and programmes like 'Skill India', 'Make in India' and 'Start up India' would be fast tracked to empower youth and entrepreneurs, he said.

"Facebook's Boost Your Business campaign will complement our programmes," he added.

Facebook was helping small businesses connect with their customers and grow their businesses locally and globally as these were critical to economic growth and employment, Head of Programs for Facebook India, Ritesh Mehta, said.

'Boost Your Business' program would help local businesses by providing training and resources to build up a digital presence, reach new customers and grow beyond what the traditional offline economies would allow, he said.

Globally, over 65 million small and medium businesses have pages on Facebook and 57 per cent of people on Facebook in India are connected to at least one small business, he said.