Sikkim MP P.D.Rai attends AFPPD seminar in Thailand

Gangtok,Sep12: Mr. P. D. Rai, Lok Sabha MP of Sikkim, participated in a seminar in Bangkok earlier this week which was conducted by The Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). More than 35 MPs from different countries attended the two day seminar. The deliberations included how Parliamentarians can help in addressing the issues related to violence against women in today’s world. Mr. Rai, who was representing India, spoke of the need to align many of the country’s development work to include gender sensitivity. He outlined the steps taken by India in this regard including gender budgeting. Outcome reports on this issue will be now scrutinized by MPs. He highlighted that India had great personalities like Mother Teresa, Mrs. Indira Gandhi and the like. He also mentioned Meira Kumar, Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and Jayalalitha as heavy weights in today’s political space. However, there was room to do more, he added.
He also spoke of Sikkim’s own women empowerment policy as well as the leadership it is providing in this area where women are coming forward in larger numbers to take leadership roles in public. He said that Sikkim at the behest of Chief Minister Dr. Pawan Chamling, had shown the way by electing the first woman speaker in the country, Mrs. Kalawati Subba, in the Legislative Assembly in 1999. Mr. Rai distributed Sikkim’s well designed booklets which were well appreciated by the MPs many of whom evinced keen interest in visiting the Himalayan State.
The Asian Parliamentarians have formed a sub-committee to take women empowerment forward. Mr. Rai is also a member of this committee. Parliamentarians from Australia, Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippine, Papua New Guinea, Laos and Vietnam participated in the deliberations.

We can work together to promote Buddhist circuit: Thai Ambassador

Gangtok, Sep 9 : Krit Kraichitti, Ambassador of Thailand to India today expressed his confidence that Sikkim and Thailand will share deeper cooperation for promoting Buddhist tourism circuit among the South East nations.
Speaking here at the fifth seminar of Indo-Thai historic and cultural linkages at Chitan Bhavan, Mr Karichitti said the Buddhist circuit is being promoted by India and South East countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar.

'We can work together to promote the Buddhist circuit,' he said, in his opening remarks of the seminar.

Regarding the theme of the seminar, the Thai ambassador said that culture and traditional knowledge can be used as a tool for development as his country is doing.

'We also want to promote ties between Thai film industry and Bollywood,'' he said.

He said by shooting movie and music videos by Indian film industry at Thailand will go a great way in bringing the people of the two nations closer.

Mr Kraichitti also shared his hopes that the Thai film industry will come to shoot in Sikkim which he said was a mystical Shangri-La.

He expressed hopes that the seminar will engage in fruitful deliberations for deeper cooperation between Thailand and India, particularly between Sikkim and Thailand.

Earlier, Sikkim HRD Minister N K Pradhan stressed upon the pilgrimage tourism as the link between the Himalayan state and Thailand.

Sikkim is convinced that pilgrimage tourism will be the driving force to bring the two regions together, he said, underlining the need to promote Buddhist circuit between Sikkim and Thailand.We feel that Thailand has much greater expertise on community development,'' Mr Pradhan said.

He requested the Thai government for exposure trips to the farming community and Self Help Groups of Sikkim to Thailand and sending experts from Thailand to Sikkim so that the state can replicate the success of Thailand.

--UNI

Sikkim study team returns with rich Thai experience

Gangtok: A 4-member high level delegation visited Thailand earlier this month on an invitation of the Royal Thai Embassy to oversee and study the culture based developmentl projects implemented there and to explore the possibility of replicating the same in Sikkim.
The team comprised of Mr. Hishey Lachungpa, Political Advisor to Chief Minister, Mr. Karma Gyatso, Addl. Chief Secretary-cum-Development Commissioner, Mr. D.R Kharel, Secretary, Cultural Affairs & Heritage Department and Mr. Tashi Densapa, Director, Namgyal Institute of Tibetlogy, has since returned to Sikkim with rich experience which will provide valuable input in the rural development process in the State.
The delegation led by Mr. Lachungpa had the benefit of a conducted tour of DOITUNG in Chiang Rai Province where the projects and been formulated duly keeping in mind the cultural values and local sentiments of the areas for which they have immensely succeeded in raising the economic conditions of the villagers.
Power Point Presentation was made by officials of the various Ministries and Boards focused on the initiatives made by the Royal Family to strive for the achievement of sufficient economy, self-reliance and sustainability by a social and geographical approach. The Self-Help Groups were found fully functional and instrumental in fostering economic growth.
Looking at the holistic approach taken up by the Government of Thailand the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan and Aceh Province of Indonesia have also replicated some of the schemes in their countries. Handloom weaving and sheep rearing ceramics, coffee are the Pilot Projects launched in those countries with the technical support of the Royal Government of Thailand.
Royal Thai Embassy is scheduled to conduct a workshop at Chintan Bhawan, Gangtok, on 9th September, 2009, to showcase the development projects in Thailand and to sensitize Sikkim Government to avail the technical support of the country in implementing sustainable schemes and encouraging peoples participation in development work.
On their return, the delegation members called on the Chief Minister Dr. Pawan Chamling at his official residence and apprised him of their experience. A memento on behalf of the Royal Government offered by the authorities of community development was also presented to CM by the delegation.
The State of Sikkim is now contemplating on identifying a number of progressive farmers, to undergo such detailed training on self help and self sufficiency in economy.
The views, aims and objectives appear to be in consonance with the vision of the Chief Minister and we are positive that the people of Sikkim, particularly the rural population, will greatly benefit from this training, say the delegation members. The Royal Thai Embassy, along with the Development Board of Doitung under the aegis of the Royal Ministry of Interior is willing to impart the training, they say.
(With IPR input)

Sikkim delegation to study development projects in Thailand

Gangtok, August 3: A four member delegation from Sikkim led by the Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling’s Political Advisor. Hishey Lachungpa left from Kolkatta today for Bangkok and Chaing Rai on the invitation of Royal Thai Embassy to study the development projects in Thailand.
The delegation comprises of Development Commissioner cum Principal Secretary, Planning and Development, Karma Gyatso, Secretary, Culture and Heritage Department Secretary D.R. Kharel and Director, NIT Director T. Densapa.
The Royal Thai Embassy will also organize the fifth seminar on Indo-Thai historical and cultural linkages on September 9, 2009 at Gangtok to be presided over by the Chief Minister Pawan Chamling and will include various presentations on culture and development in Thailand by organizations like Doi Tung Development Project, Department of Community Development, Thailand, Mahidol University.
The Government of Sikkim, UNDP – India / UNESCO, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology will also be making presentations on the culture and development in India. Other highlight of the seminar includes programmes on exchange of knowledge and experience, followed by panel discussions (DIPR)

Mega Sikkim bazaar in Thailand

Mega northeast bazaar in Thailand to woo investors

Guwahati, Aug 21 (IANS) India will showcase its business potential in its northeastern states during a four-day mega bazaar in Thailand in October, part of a major campaign to open the region to investors in Southeast Asia.
The central ministry of the Department of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in collaboration with the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is organising the North-East Investment Week in Bangkok from Oct 1 to 4. "The idea is to sell the northeast overseas, mainly to investors in Southeast Asia. The Investment Week will give an opportunity to prospective investors about the potential we have in the region for doing business," Assam Industries and Commerce Minister Pradyut Bordoloi told IANS. Trade delegations from across the eight northeastern states, including Sikkim, would participate in the Bangkok exposition. Sectors like power, tourism, inland waterways, processed food, horticulture, rubber, IT and telecom, handloom and handicrafts besides bamboo will be the focus areas. "We shall explain to investors about the prospects of business in certain viable sectors in the northeast," the minister said. The trade fair, involving the northeast in Bangkok, was mooted by Thailand's Commerce Minister Krirk-Krai Jirapaet during a visit to the region in June along with a team of top Thai business people. The prime ministers of the two countries later endorsed the proposal. Thailand is the first ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) country that has shown interest in starting trade and investment in the northeast. The visit to the northeast by the Thai business team led by Jirapaet came after government heads at the SAARC summit emphasised the need to increase trade and investment between the region and Southeast Asian countries. "We are flooded with queries from both Indian and overseas players willing to invest in the state, including some big names," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said. Most business groups and individual investors were interested in setting up hotels, cement factories, hospitals, tourism infrastructure, and even educational institutions. "We have queries from Thailand with one group interested in operating an airline and promoting tourism," the chief minister said. "We are ready to make things easy for investors as far as processing is concerned. If somebody gets mired in bureaucratic red tape, they could approach me directly." Meanwhile, four top Indian corporate honchos were expected to invest a whopping Rs.300 billion in the development of rural infrastructure, promoting agriculture and setting up power plants, IT parks, and bio-diesel facilities. "All these companies have agreed in principle to invest in Assam either independently or in partnership with the state government," Gogoi said. "I have assured all the company heads that we shall provide all security and other help without fail