Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale during South Asia Regional Connectivity Conference on November 1 said that India will become the third largest aviation market in the world by 2020.
Foreign secretary while informing regarding the domestic and overseas projects undertaken to promote connectivity said, “We have aimed at laying 40 km of highways every day by 2018 and 2019 — a three-time jump from four years ago. By 2020, we will become the third largest aviation market in the world. Activities in Bangladesh include inland waterways container ports. In Myanmar, the Kaladan project is being implemented. We promote trade, not tension.”
He further said that the country is developing Chabahar Port in Iran to improve connectivity to the West.
“An airfreight India-Afghanistan corridor was established in June 2017 after by-passing a rather unwilling Afghanistan government. We will expand the airfreight corridor to other cities as well. We are seeking to develop Chabahar Port gateway for onward connectivity to and from Afghanistan and Central Asia,” he added.
He further added, “Since last year, we have shipped 110,000 metric ton (MT) wheat and 2,000 MT pulses to Afghanistan. We will develop the Chabahar to its full potential to improve connectivity with Afghanistan and Central Asia.”
“We view the Indo-Pacific region as a positive development in connectivity. We can play a unique role in this by the virtue of our geographical location and economic gravity,” he noted.
