The 11th North East Business Summit (NEBS) has commenced in New Delhi today. The two-day event is an initiative to facilitate investment, highlight strengths of the North-East Region and business opportunities which North-East has to offer. Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Railways, in a video message delivered on the occasion, said that an e-commerce portal will soon be launched to sell NER handicrafts and handloom worldwide on the IRCTC website. And, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council has assured providing land for expansion of the rail link to Darjeeling, which will be further extended to Sikkim. Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, , will be addressing the conclave tomorrow. Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day conclave, Naveen Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), has proposed a green corridor based on the Indian Railways Broad Gauge network to give a fillip to industry in the North Eastern Region. Inaugurating the 11th North East Business Summit (NEBS), Verma said that faster and reliable transit facilities and freight modes are much needed to make the North Eastern Region products competitive. Pointing out that most of the North Eastern Region horticulture and agriculture produce is exported to neighbouring countries bordering the North Eastern Region, Verma said the government is committed to encourage value addition to the region’s natural produce. The DoNER Secretary urged the entrepreneurs to take advantage of investment opportunities in the region especially as all Central Ministries have earmarked 10 per cent Budget to projects in the North Eastern Region. He also called upon the organisers of the NEBS to host the next Summit in the North Eastern Region, so as to demonstrate the emergence of the region as a business destination. Further, Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Electronics & IT, said that around 20 per cent of India’s sunrise BPO sector with an annual turnover of $155 billion is serviced by the NE people. With the government planning three more Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) units in the North Eastern Region, the government hopes at least a fraction of this revenue will be generated from the region itself. Also, Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), appealed the industry chambers to take advantage of the North East Indsutrial Policy programme. He called upon the NE states to strive to improve their rankings in the DIPP’s online real time index of states and UTs based on ‘Ease of doing Business’ (EODB) criteria.