Look East to Act East Policy
Look East Policy:-
'Look East Policy' was initiated under the supervision of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh. Its main objective was to establish active engagement with South-East Asia. Its main focus was on ASEAN economies. In its initial phase, India focused on establishing trade and economic ties with East Asian countries and promoted trade and economic relations withthe ASEAN grouping to achieve this objective. In fact, the reasons for the emergence of Look East policy include immediate India's balance of payments crisis, collapse of Soviet Union, Gulf crisis. The crisis of oil prices arising out of this has been the main reason. In 2014, while taking the'Look East Policy' on the ground, it was termed as 'Act East Policy'.
Act East Policy at present':-
Its launch, in 2014 by the Prime Minister at the 12th ASEAN Summit did in. It mainly focuses on the extended neighborhood of India in the Asia-Pacific region.
• It covers political, strategic and cultural dimensions with the establishment of institutional mechanisms of dialogue, cooperation.
• Along with ASEAN, it also covers BIMSTEC, IORA, MGC Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
• It emphasizes on mutual cooperation between India and ASEAN on issues like infrastructure,manufacturing, urban renewal, smart cities,Make in India, skills.
• Connectivity, space science and technology and people-to-people exchange cooperation have also been included.
Thus through the 'Act East Policy' we can reduce the adverse effects of RCEP by strengthening relations with not only the Northeast but also ASEAN nations as well as the Far South-Eastern countries, gaining access to the Indo-Pacific. We can participate in peace and prosperity of the world.
