Addressing the 2nd Convocation of National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Dimapur on Wednesday, the Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu has said that there is an immense investment potential in the Northeastern region and ASEAN countries should not be allowed to miss that opportunity.

The Vice President said that Nagaland which is rich in its traditional heritage is growing fast and setting up of NIT is an indication of the growing importance of this region. The real strength of any academic institute lies in maintaining high standards of excellence through its teaching and top quality research, he added.

Naidu said that Northeast is endowed with abundant natural resources, but difficult terrain, dispersed habitations, poor connectivity and inadequate infrastructure have been obstacles in realizing its true potential.

Further, he stated that improving connectivity is most important to bring the North East region into the mainstream and air connectivity is also vital for promoting tourism, business and people-to-people contact.

He said, "We strongly believe that the corridors of connectivity should be converted into corridors of economic growth with a symbiotic market model of development".