A six-member Parliamentary Delegation from Germany headed by Mr Jurgen Hardt currently visiting India today called on the Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh in New Delhi.Dr. Singh apprised the delegation about the tremendous focus of the NDA government led by Prime Ministry Shri Narendra Modi for the overall development of North-Eastern region including that of infrastructure. He said that Central Government is allocating 10 percent of its resources, despite the region having 3 and half percent population of the country and 7 percent area. This signifies the priority being attached to the region, the Minister added.Dr Singh said that in the last two years major steps were taken for air connectivity and for the rapid development of Inland Waterways in the NE region. There are 20 Inland Waterways including the one at mighty Brahmaputra for cheap and easy transportation of goods. He said that capital of Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar is now linked with New Delhi through rail route and an airport at Itanagar will soon be completed.The Minister also briefed the delegation about international collaborative arrangements for the development of North-Eastern region and said that Japan is investing in a big way for the construction of roads and bridges. Israel is having a project on citrus food parks.
Dr. Singh wanted to know from German Delegation as to how Germany can help in commissioning developmental projects in the region.The Secretary, DoNER Dr Inder jit Singh informed that India and Germany had a bilateral collaboration in the field of climate change and only in December 2019, a pilot project on the subject was concluded.Climate Change Adaption-North Eastern Region (CCA-NER) PHASE-2 is a bilateral project between Government of India and Federal Government of Germany to implement the technical cooperation in partnership with the Indian Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MoDoNER(, the lead executing agency at national level).The CCA-NER Phase-2 is being implemented under the broader framework of the Indo-German Environment Programme-Rural Areas (IGEP-RA) in the States of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim with an objective of improving resource-saving and climate resilient agricultural practices. Some key activities carried out are in the areas of Eri Silk value chain, Bamboo value chain, Spring-shed management shed, marketing linkages for organic products of North-Eastern region, Honey bee value chain and MDoNER-NEC Knowledge Management portal.The last visit of Parliamentary Delegation from Germany took place in 2015.