India’s presidency begins Dec 1: Centre looks Northeast for hosting G20 meets; Aizawl, Itanagar on list

Aizawl will be hosting one of the meetings, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, who was in Aizawl for the 10th International Tourism Mart, which kicked off Thursday, said.

“We are planning to have some G20 meetings in the Northeast region,” he told reporters although he did not name any city except the Mizoram capital.

India, which was handed the G20 presidency baton by Indonesia President Joko Widodo in Bali on Wednesday, will take charge of the leadership role on December 1.

In the next 12 months, the country will host 215 G20 meetings spread across 55 locations. Ten places have already been finalised: Srinagar, Goa, Siliguri, Khajuraho, Hampi, Bhubaneswar, Agra and Amritsar, besides the Rann of Kutch and Delhi.

The final list of the Northeastern venues is likely to be prepared after deliberations with the stakeholders on the sidelines of the Tourism Mart, which is focused on “Priorities of G20 for Tourism Track”.

The event is also being attended by Tourism Ministers and senior officials from the Northeastern states, and heads of Tourism & Hospitality Associations.

Reddy said the government has decided to form a tourism task force for the Northeast region with the help of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and other ministries.

The task force will enable all stakeholders, including partnering ministries and state governments, to come together and work on tourism-related initiatives in mission mode.

Besides, as many as 100 viewpoints will be developed in the region, of which 22 have been sanctioned and likely to be completed in the next six months.

These will have special structure for vantage view and selfie points, and wayside amenities such as toilets, cafeteria and local handicrafts shops.