Guwahati [Assam], May 5 (HornbillTV): Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern Region G Kishan Reddy on Thursday was briefed on the key concerns and challenges faced by the Chief Ministers of North-East states in their respective states and in the region as a whole.

“All the issues raised have been duly noted by the officials of Development of North Eastern Region Ministry,’ said Reddy.

The Union Minister met Chief Ministers of all northeastern states for a dinner at the residence of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday. Union ministers Sarbananda Sonowal and Kiren Rijiju were also present at the dinner meeting.

“Today’s event sets a brilliant precedent in ensuring greater coordination and cooperation between the centre and States towards holistic development of the North East Region,” said Reddy.

He added that valuable insights gained through the sessions would prove to be fundamental in designing policies, programs and projects which are aligned to the ground realities of the North East Region.

Outlining the aspirations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government with regard to the North-Eastern region of the country, Union Minister in the meeting quoted a substantial increase in budget and a plan to organise G20 meetings in the North-Eastern states.

“There has been a massive 100 per cent increase in the budget for North East. He also mentioned about the 6000 crores marked for North-East states under the Oil palm Mission,” he said.

He also said in the “upcoming G20 meeting, at least 8 meetings must be organized in eight states and good destinations may be identified for the same.”

The event was attended by the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh Brig. BD Mishra, Governor of Manipur L.A. Ganesan, CM of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu, CM of Tripura Biplab Kumar Dev, CM of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio, CM of Manipur N. Biren Singh, Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for DoNER and Cooperation B.L. Verma, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Kumari Pratima Bhowmik, Union Minister of State for labour and employment Rameshwar Teli, Minister of Tourism of Mizoram Robert Romawia Royte and Minister of Tourism Sikkim B.S Panth.