Travel advisory issued for Assam is becoming a big hurdle in foreign investment: Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Sharma on Saturday said the travel advisory issued by several countries for Northeast India is a big challenge in attracting investments. He said the state is gearing up for a business summit later this month. Sharma said he has requested the countries to look at Assam separately and not all the northeastern states together. He said talks are already on with Japan, Australia and other countries to persuade them to withdraw the adverse advisory. The chief minister said the state government is pushing to keep Assam separate from other states in the region. Addressing a press conference ahead of the Advantage Assam 2.0 Investment and Infrastructure Summit, Sharma said, “Most of the embassies have put Assam on the suspicious list and issued statutory warnings to their citizens not to travel to Assam as the state has been classified as a Northeast region. It is our top priority to get the advisories lifted.” He said there is no adverse situation in Assam and all stakeholders, including the government, media and public, have to come together to explain this. “As the chief minister of Assam, I cannot influence other states. I am asking them (countries) to look at Assam in isolation,” he said. “To attract foreign investment, the travel advisory should be withdrawn. And at the same time, we have to show them our strengths, such as the skills of our workforce and peace and stability in political, economic and law and order,” he said.