Look East Policy and development of North East
Rejaul Karim Laskar
The agreement reached during the fifth India-ASEAN Summit held in Cebu,
Phillippines on January 14, 2007 on the proposed Free Trade Agreement which
will be ready by July 2007 is a significant achievement of the Look East
Policy. It is to be hoped that such a free trade agreement will open the door
to new opportunities for the development of North East which has been
stagnating due to lack of economic development for the last six decades. With
the establishment of India-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the North East will no longer
be handicapped by the Physical inaccessibility from the rest of India, the way
it has been for the past six decades. Rather, it will be the centre of this
vast Free Trade Area which may, in all probability, be one of the largest and
most dynamic free trade areas of the world in the twenty-first century.
Though in the first phase of the Look East Policy - unveiled by the Narsimha
Rao Government in the early nineties the Government of India focused on
renewing political and economic contacts with the countries of East and
South-East Asia, in the second phase of this policy the Government of India is
giving special emphasis on the economic development of backward north eastern
region of India taking advantage of huge market of ASEAN as well as of the
energy resources available in some of the member countries of ASEAN like
Myanmar.
The Look East Policy started achieving success as early as in 1992. In
January 1992, India became able to establish the first institutional linkage
with ASEAN by becoming a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in specific areas
like trade, investment, science and technology and training. The institutional
linkage was upgraded in 1995 when India became a full dialogue partner of
ASEAN. In 1996 the institutional linkage was further upgraded when India was
admitted in ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) which deals with security issues and
has a tremendous clout in Asia Pacific region. India also became a founder
member of East Asia Summit and has participated in both first East Asia Summit
held in December 2005 and the just concluded second East Asia Summit held on
January 15, 2007. But upgradation of institutional linkage with South East Asia
is not the only benefit of the Look East Policy, but more importantly, this
policy has led to a steady expansion of Indias trade and
investment links with the East and South East Asia region. From a meagre $ 2.5
billion in 1993-94, India-ASEAN trade is now more than $21 billion.
But the most important beneficiary of this Look East Policy will, obviously be
the north eastern region of India. In the second phase of the Look East Policy
the Government of India is giving special emphasis on the development of North
East by taking advantage of the physical contiguity of this region with the
ASEAN. With the admission of Myanmar into ASEAN in 1997, North East has now
become Indias gateway to ASEAN. As the process of establishment of India-ASEAN
Free Trade Area progresses North East will have the potential to become the hub
of this future growth engine of Asia. But, of course, road, rail and air
linkages will have to be improved to realise this potential. This is the reason
why the Government of India is giving special emphasis on improving the road
connectivity between North East and Myanmar by investing in transport
infrastructure in North East as well as in Myanmar. India and Thailand have
also planned a trilateral project with Myanmar to link the
three nations through a road corridor. The India-ASEAN car rally held in
November 2004 was also a conscious effort to strengthen the road linkages
between ASEAN and the North East.
The ASEAN-India Partnership for peace, progress and shared prosperity pact
signed by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh with leaders of the ASEAN countries
at the third India-ASEAN summit on Vientine on November 30, 2004, which
outlined a multi-pronged action plan for boosting trade, investment, tourism,
culture, sports and people to people contact will not only go a long way
towards economic integration between India and ASEAN but will also facilitate
development of the North East. The plan to build institutional linkages for
intelligence and information sharing, exchange of information and cooperation
in legal and enforcement matters and to explore developing anti-terrorism
cooperation and assistance packages covering among others immigration control,
customs cooperation, land, air and sea safety will contribute immensely to
curbing terrorism in North East.
Another dimension of Look East Policy is the Bay of Bengal Initiative for
Multi-Sectoral Economic and Technological Cooperation (BIMSTEC) established in
June 1997 as BIST-EC (Bangladesh-India- Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic
Co-operation) but renamed as BIMST-EC (Bangladesh-India-Myanmar-Sri
Lanka-Thailand Economic Co-operation) in December 1997 and again renamed as
Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Economic and Technological
Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in July 2004. Presently its members are Bangladesh,
India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. The members of this
grouping have also been working for quite some time for a Free Trade Agreement
among themselves. But the postponement of the second BIMSTEC Summit, which was
scheduled to be held on February 8, 2007 has given a setback to this endeavour.
Incidentally, the North East lies at the centre of both the proposed
India-ASEAN Free Trade Area and the BIMSTEC Free Trade Area and has the
potential to be a hub
of these two future growth engines of Asia.
(Source: Assam Tribune 19th January 2007)
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