Act East Policy:
The Union Minister of State Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) said that connectivity is an important element of Act East Policy.
- The ‘Act East Policy’ announced in November 2014 is the upgrade of the “Look East Policy”.
- It is a diplomatic initiative to promote economic, strategic, and cultural relations with the vast Asia-Pacific region at different levels.
- It involves intensive and continuous engagement with Southeast Asian countries in the field of connectivity, trade, culture, defense, and people-to-people-contact at bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels.
- Aim: To promote economic cooperation, cultural ties, and developing a strategic relationship with countries in the Indo-pacific region with a proactive and pragmatic approach and thereby improving the economic development of the North Eastern Region (NER) which is a gateway to Southeast Asia Region.
Look East Policy:
- In order to recover from the loss of the strategic partner -USSR (end of the Cold war 1991), India sought to build up a relationship with the USA and allies of the USA in Southeast Asia.
- In this pursuit, former Prime minister of India P V Narasimha Rao launched Look East policy in 1992, to give a strategic push to India’s engagement with the South-East Asia region, to bolster its standing as a regional power and a counterweight to the strategic influence of the People’s Republic of China.
