Guwahati: Mizoram and Assam will jointly organise the first-ever border festival on November 24 in a bid to foster goodwill, mutual trust and stronger people-to-people ties between the two neighbouring states, an official statement said on Friday.
The festival is scheduled to be held in Assam’s Cachar district. A review meeting was held on Friday at the venue, where officials from the district administrations of both states assessed preparations for the event.
The day-long event will include friendly football and volleyball matches between Mizoram and Assam teams.
In addition, the day-long event will feature a cultural programme with vibrant performances by cultural troupes from Mizoram’s Vairengte and Mamit, along with artistes from Cachar, to be held at the CDC Dholai office ground, the statement said.
Officials expressed hope that the upcoming event will cement ties between border residents of the two states.
Notably, Mizoram’s Aizawl, Kolasib, and Mamit districts share a 164.6-km border with Assam’s Cachar, Sribhumi, and Hailakandi districts.
The two states have had a long-standing border dispute due to conflicting colonial-era demarcations, which has occasionally led to violence, including a clash near Vairengte village in July 2021 that killed seven people.
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Since August 2021, the two northeastern states have held four rounds of ministerial-level talks, besides negotiations and virtual meetings at the official level to resolve the decades-old border dispute.
In the last official-level talks held in Guwahati in April this year, both states agreed to maintain the status quo along the disputed areas and to expedite responses to claims made by Mizoram.
