Shillong: Union finance and corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who will be on a two-day visit to Meghalaya starting from Friday, will inaugurate key infrastructure projects, interact with farmers, artisans and students, and participate in high-level conferences.On Friday, Sitharaman will inaugurate the northeast’s largest organic spice processing plant at Bhoirymbong in Ri Bhoi district, according to an official statement. The facility, set up by the Eastern Ri Bhoi Organic Farmer Producer Company, has an annual processing capacity of 10,346 metric tonnes and is expected to benefit 5,500 organic farmers across the region.She will later attend the inaugural session of the conference on ‘Leveraging Externally Aided Projects (EAPs) in the North-Eastern States’ in Shillong. Organised by the department of economic affairs (DEA), Union ministry of finance, and hosted by the Meghalaya govt, the conference will bring together chief ministers, chief secretaries and senior officials from across the northeast to strengthen the uptake and impact of externally aided financing.Sitharaman will also preside over a ceremony at the U Soso Tham Auditorium in Shillong with CM Conrad K Sangma to mark Meghalaya’s EAPs journey and lay foundation stones for four projects worth over Rs 1,200 crore.
