Look East Policy is yet a farce.
Look what insults/losses I suffered in the last month:
With expensive bank loans I ordered 2 MIG/MAG 630 Amp Welding Machines ex Tianjin China@ $1510 FOB.
As I wanted to do some critical construction job I asked them to Airfreight the machines to L.G.N.B.International Airport,Guwahati via Bangkok. No airlines would carry there. So I said--via Delhi then(They care for the EAST and Care Dearly for the North East!-I THOUGHT).
Only Korean Air will carry the cargo--gross 200 Kg~ -- and they charged $680. These arrived Delhi on 15 January. On one pretext or the other("Why are you buying Chinese", "We don't accept E-mail" This Print is Hazy"----) these were not released till today -after paying 37.5% DutyonC.I.F. and "Delayed Collection charges". In spite Of "Hon'ble Finance Minister announcing Pre-Budget "We are pleased to reduce Duty on Capital goods from 10% down t0 5% (on FOB).There is nobody to redress. NEDFI-DONER-OXOMmp's-Assam Govt-Look East--all are Bekaar!
"Look East-" is also copied from Willy Brandt's Drang nach Osten(towards USSR) in '70s .
"Look East " will be real only in Sovereign Oxom where the main Trade will be from Kakopothar to Chengdu in 70 minute hops.
And when bargeloads of Yunnan Phosphorites will travel Da-li to Mytkina -to Patkoi-to Luit valley daily.
mm
P.S. Pradip -maybe you would copy this to your big address list -to whom you posted the original
From: Pradip Kumar Datta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected],NorthEastIndia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,[EMAIL PROTECTED],"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,Wake up India <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"[EMAIL PROTECTED]"<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>,"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Assam] Look East Policy and development of North East
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 04:28:55 -0800 (PST)
Look East Policy and development of North East
Rejaul Karim LaskarThe 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 Areawhich 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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