The Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, along with the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), is organizing Waterways Conclave 2022 on 11th12th April in Dibrugarh, Assam. In line with the aspirations of PM Gati Shakti National Masterplan, Waterways Conclave aims for speedy development of multimodal projects in the North-eastern region to energize the economic activities and augment employment generation. The waterways sector can potentially bring about an upsurge in our bilateral trade and investment through collaboration. The Waterways Conclave will deliberate on the new possibilities for cooperation in the waterways sector between the nations. FICCI and ICC are the industry partner for the two-day conclave. Sarbananda Sonowal, minister of ports, shipping and waterways and AYUSH; Nitin Gadkari, minister of road transport and highways, government of India; and Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, shall attend the event and address the inaugural session on 12th April 2022. The conclave is planned with special sessions to deliberate on issues concerning the sector. The expected outcome of the sessions to be organised shall be to identify common goals and joint strategic initiatives, the roadmap for policies and strategies for the IWT sector’s growth, infrastructural constraints in waterways logistics, and intervention to ensure seamless connectivity on waterways. The government of India has signed bilateral agreements with the government of Bangladesh for strengthening and reinforcing inland water transportation and marine relations. In addition, the session shall discuss infrastructure and development requirements for Waterways, including the paramount procedures to address technical challenges in maintenance. The conclave shall consider the opportunities to increase river cruise tourism and passenger transportation safety and embrace the finest international measures that benefit Indian conditions. The motive of the session is to attract domestic tourists to river cruises and promote cruise tourism.
