Minister of Industries, Commerce, Transport and Parliamentary Affairs Chandra Mohan Patowary on Monday said that Assam is the centre of South East Asia.Addresing the gathering at Banga Bhawan after launching the theme song of ensuing river festival Namami Barak, Patowary said Assam shares 4800-km of international border with neighbouring countries. The State has immense potential and there is a market for 200 million consumers which need to be exploited for the greater interest of Assam and South East. Stressing on the Act East policy as envisioned by the Government, the Transport Minister said that dredging of river Barak which is a declared as a National Waterway16 shall open new vistas for the people of this valley for setting up of new industries and commerce and Namami Barak shall add fillip towards the efforts. The Minister mocked the Opposition for its remarks to boycott the first ever river festival and urged them to shun negative attempts towards developing the region. Fish production : Besides the major objective of river dredging and presentation of the socio-economic potential of Barak Valley before the global audience, the ensuing river festival of Namami Barak will also be an occasion to promote fish production here, said Minister of Fisheries Parimal Suklabaidya. We wanted to promote the know-how of fish production and encourage the fisherman in learning the methods to maximise the growth of fish and there can be no better a stage than the river festival to be held here. Fish of river Barak is known for its quality and hence it is quite fitting to organise a festival wherein people can learn about fish cultivation, Suklabaidya told The Assam Tribune on Tuesday. On the other hand, asked about if the Department of Fisheries is thinking about measures to contain the escalating fish prices across the State, Suklabaidya said the Department is focused on fish production while the market prices are regulated by the FishFed. However, efforts are initiated to amalgamate the FishFed with the Department of Fisheries. Once this is done, we can chalk out a plan to control fish prices in the State.