For the first time in its history, the Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) held its 11th Executive Committee Meeting in the North-Eastern region of the country, at Radisson Blu, Guwahati on June 13, 2019.
According to Mr S. Ramakrishna, Chairman, FFFAI, this decision was taken in view of the fact that the untapped region has tremendous potential not only for manufacturing and export trade (especially tea, fruits and vegetables, other agro products and handicraft exports), but the emerging region also offers huge opportunities for freight forwarding, Customs broking and the entire logistics service providers’ business in the days to come.
Meanwhile, the government of India and the state governments of the North-East region are taking many proactive initiatives at the policy level to create strong infrastructure by making investments as well as wooing private investors. The Central government is also facilitating multimodal connectivity across the region to expedite domestic distribution as well as foreign trade, especially with neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar. In addition, the region is strategically placed, with Guwahati as a viable hub, to increase bilateral trade with South-East Asian countries.
The members of FFFAI also took part in the 1st National Logistics Summit held on June 14 at the same venue, which was attended by many national and local trade associations, representatives from the government of India as well as state government officials, to focus on logistics issues and opportunities.
On June 15, FFFAI office-bearers, including Mr Ramakrishna and Mr A. V. Vijayakumar, Chairman-elect, visited the proposed International Multimodal Logistics Park in Jogighopa, Assam. The visit was led by Mr N. Sivasailam, Special Secretary (Logistics), Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, accompanied by the Chairman, IWAI and many other Central and state government officials, said a release.
