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India's 'Look East' policy has strategic goals
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's three-nation visit to Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam marks a reassertion of India's resolve to pursue its "Look East Policy" to achieve its strategic, geo-political and economic goals.
The signing of a commitment to expand trade with Malaysia next week, a number of pacts with Vietnam and an understanding with Japan on nuclear energy are the highlights of his tour.
That the Look East Policy - begun in the nineties under then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in whose government Manmohan Singh was the finance minister - has received priority is clear from Manmohan's decision not to visit New York this September for the UN General Assembly, an ideal venue for world leaders to hold bilateral discussions on the sidelines.
The man who pushed for the free trade agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) wants to reach out to a 550 million-strong consumer market that exudes a magnetic appeal to the world's industry. Besides the large consumer base, the region is rich in raw materials and energy, which India badly needs for its future development.
India has obvious constraints in its own region, where the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has not done too well. It is hardly surprising that India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna recently pointed to the dynamic growth rates posted in trade and investment in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Cooperation between India and ASEAN has moved at a fast pace since India launched its economic reforms and the Look East Policy in the 1990s. India was a full dialogue partner at the fifth ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in 1995 and became a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum in 1996. India and ASEAN have held summit meetings annually since 2002.
Manmohan will be at the eighth ASEAN-India summit in Vietnam next week.
An FTA with ASEAN signed in August last year in Thailand will boost the group's economic and trade relations with India. India's trade with ASEAN has surged from $39.08 billion (RM122 billion) in 2007-08 to $45.34 billion in 2008-09. There is great potential for trade and investment between India and ASEAN.
Forming the backdrop of the Manmohan visit to the region was one last month by President Pratibha Patil to Laos and Cambodia. Not only were cultural agreements signed but business talk was also conducted.
The state visits have, in the past, been largely ceremonial in nature. But, now, business delegations accompany the head of state. Patil's delegation had 45 business people. This is a recent trend and constitutes a significant change that allows economic ties to drive bilateral and multilateral relations.
Patil said the engagement with Cambodia and Laos was set to substantially expand, and would be taken forward bilaterally and through ASEAN. In Laos, India extended a credit line of $72.55 million to finance two power projects. In Cambodia, Patil signed two agreements, the first between the comptroller and auditor-general of India and the National Audit Authority of Cambodia, and the second for a $15 million credit line between EXIM Bank and the Cambodian government for Phase II of the Stung Tassal water development project.
Cambodia is the country coordinator for India in ASEAN and will occupy the ASEAN chair in 2012, when India hosts the commemorative India-ASEAN summit in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's three-nation visit to Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam marks a reassertion of India's resolve to pursue its "Look East Policy" to achieve its strategic, geo-political and economic goals.
The signing of a commitment to expand trade with Malaysia next week, a number of pacts with Vietnam and an understanding with Japan on nuclear energy are the highlights of his tour.
That the Look East Policy - begun in the nineties under then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in whose government Manmohan Singh was the finance minister - has received priority is clear from Manmohan's decision not to visit New York this September for the UN General Assembly, an ideal venue for world leaders to hold bilateral discussions on the sidelines.
The man who pushed for the free trade agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) wants to reach out to a 550 million-strong consumer market that exudes a magnetic appeal to the world's industry. Besides the large consumer base, the region is rich in raw materials and energy, which India badly needs for its future development.
India has obvious constraints in its own region, where the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has not done too well. It is hardly surprising that India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna recently pointed to the dynamic growth rates posted in trade and investment in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Cooperation between India and ASEAN has moved at a fast pace since India launched its economic reforms and the Look East Policy in the 1990s. India was a full dialogue partner at the fifth ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in 1995 and became a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum in 1996. India and ASEAN have held summit meetings annually since 2002.
Manmohan will be at the eighth ASEAN-India summit in Vietnam next week.
An FTA with ASEAN signed in August last year in Thailand will boost the group's economic and trade relations with India. India's trade with ASEAN has surged from $39.08 billion (RM122 billion) in 2007-08 to $45.34 billion in 2008-09. There is great potential for trade and investment between India and ASEAN.
Forming the backdrop of the Manmohan visit to the region was one last month by President Pratibha Patil to Laos and Cambodia. Not only were cultural agreements signed but business talk was also conducted.
The state visits have, in the past, been largely ceremonial in nature. But, now, business delegations accompany the head of state. Patil's delegation had 45 business people. This is a recent trend and constitutes a significant change that allows economic ties to drive bilateral and multilateral relations.
Patil said the engagement with Cambodia and Laos was set to substantially expand, and would be taken forward bilaterally and through ASEAN. In Laos, India extended a credit line of $72.55 million to finance two power projects. In Cambodia, Patil signed two agreements, the first between the comptroller and auditor-general of India and the National Audit Authority of Cambodia, and the second for a $15 million credit line between EXIM Bank and the Cambodian government for Phase II of the Stung Tassal water development project.
Cambodia is the country coordinator for India in ASEAN and will occupy the ASEAN chair in 2012, when India hosts the commemorative India-ASEAN summit in New Delhi.