Guwahati: The Indo-ASEAN (Association of South East Nations) car rally, to be flagged off by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, will increase trade with those countries by more than three times.

This was stated by the president of the CII (Confederation of Indian Industries), Sunil Kant Munjal at a conference on "North East- India's gateway to ASEAN" at the Guwahati IIT in Guwahati today.

Munjal, also the chairman of the national advisory committee of the Indo-ASEAN rally, stated that trade with the countries which was around ten billion dollars annually at present could jump up to 30 billion dollars.

The North Eastern region and the ASEAN countries had common culture and now both the regions had come closer, Munjal said.

"We have to find ways to lower transport cost and target aggressive trade levels with countries other than Singapore and Malaysia with whom India has already good rapport" the CII president said.

Quoting the Prime Minister, Munjal said it was rightly stated that North East was the gateway to South East Asia.

The North East is underdeveloped and much had to be done and this region could take advantage of the liberal economic policies now pursued, he said.

Secretary general of the ASEAN, Ong Keng Yong appreciated the country's effort to hold the rally and felt this could bring a revolutionary change in the trade relation between the region and India.

The North East has close affinity with South East Asia and this opportunity could be beneficial for both, he said. Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang said the lime stone reserves and the tourism potential of his State could be an attraction for the ASEAN countries and felt that the rally would provide a tremendous boost to the economy of the N E States in general.

Speaking on the occasion Dipankar Chatterji, chairman of the CII North East committee said the N E region had 92 per cent of its border with foreign countries.

"This only aptly proves how it could beneficial for the region to have trade with the neighbouring countries to improve its economy," Chaterji said.

B K Das, managing director of the Numaligarh refinery said during ages the N E region had been regarded as an oil reserve and this aspect could be highlighted.

Assam is known for its oil and tea and a growing global market was also welcome, he said.