The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the Union ministry of commerce and industry has organized a virtual business conclave with the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam) on Thursday and Friday. According to an official statement, the countries have surfaced as key growth points for the ASEAN region, giving this region a wider market outreach resulting in preferential or free trade agreements with larger economies of the world and are considered to be conducive for setting up manufacturing units.

Not just that but India invited the countries to join the International Solar Alliance as well as the Resilient Supply Chain Initiative by India. This was stated by V Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs, Government of India while addressing the Inaugural Session of the 6th India - CLMV Business Conclave 2020: Building Bridges for Constructive Development yesterday. V Muraleedharan suggested this in light of the fact that the region and India were working closely together to develop renewable sources of energy as well as form partnerships to penetrate global value chains.

Highlighting India’s cooperation with the CLMV region, V Muraleedharan stated that right through the COVID-19 crisis, India provided medicines and medical supplies to the region. It has also trained medical personnel from the region under the I-TEC scheme. He mentioned that India seeks to enhance its cooperation and collaboration with the CLMV region in terms of developing a vaccine for

Lines of Credit have been extended by the Government of India to the Mekong region - of which the CLMV countries are a part

COVID-19 and would be willing to share the vaccine as and when it is ready.

To promote cooperation with the CLMV countries, the Minister stated that a Project Development Fund for the CLMV region had been set up with a corpus of Rs. 500 crores to help incentivize Indian private sector companies to set up manufacturing facilities in the region. Lines of Credit have been extended by the Government of India to the Mekong region - of which the CLMV countries are a part.

On the infrastructure front, V Muraleedharan mentioned that a number of initiatives were underway to promote connectivity with the region. These include the construction of the Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan Multimodal Transit-Transport Project.

The conclave creates yet another platform to strengthen India’s cooperation with the CLMV countries. Apart from the sectoral sessions, there would be a virtual exhibition spread over 15 days with enterprises from India and the CLMV countries showcasing their products and services across sectors such as agriculture (agri & food processing, farm inputs, and allied services), manufacturing, and light industry (automobiles, textile, and machine tools), power and clean energy, infrastructure, transport & logistics, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, IT, skills and education, the statement said.

Minister for Commerce and Industry and Railways Piyush Goyal was the chief guest at the inaugural session. Trade ministers from the CLMV region have been invited for the conclave. The two-day event will have sectoral sessions, country focus sessions and will have participation from government, industry from India and the CLMV region.