By IANS
Guwahati : External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Sunday said India could emerge as one of the world’s fastest growing economies if it was able to boost its Look East policy by strengthening bilateral and regional relations with Southeast Asian countries.
“The Look East policy is a strategic shift in India’s vision of the world and we genuinely believe the country could emerge as one of the fastest growing economies in the world if we can reach out to our civiliasational Asian neighbours,” the minister said.
Mukherjee was speaking at a meet, titled “India’s Look East Policy – Challenges for Sub-Regional Cooperation”, in Assam’s main city of Guwahati.
Organised by the Public Diplomacy division of the ministry of external affairs (MEA), the meeting was aimed at highlighting the Look East policy for developing closer relations with the economic tigers of Southeast Asia.
“We need to cement connectivity with the Asian neighbours in the region who, by emerging as regional economic powerhouses, also presented us with a model worthy of emulation,” he said.
Considering the proximity India’s northeast has with Southeast Asia, the minister said the region could become the gateway to the neighbouring countries.
“India is aware of the geo-economic potential of the northeastern region as a gateway to East and Southeast Asia. By gradually integrating this region through cross-border market access, the northeastern region could become the bridge between the Indian economy and what is beyond doubt the fastest growing region in the world,” Mukherjee said.
He said there were plans for direct air links between Southeast Asian cities with India’s northeast, besides having telecommunication networking through optical fibre links.
“Information and communication technology revolutions have virtually shrunk the globe, and geography is no longer a buffer,” he said.
The meet was part of a exercise by the Public Diplomacy division to educate people across the country about foreign policy issues and seek their opinions on critical issues.
Enunciated in the 1990s by then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, the much-hyped Look East policy had its genesis in the end of the Cold War following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
India made a shift in its foreign policy when it embarked on a programme of free market restructuring at home and sought new markets and economic partners abroad – primarily Southeast Asia – because of the geographical contiguity of the northeast with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.