DECADE OF ACT EAST & THE NEED FOR CLOSER TIES

Though the Act East policy has brought us closer, India and ASEAN countries still view each other as glasses half empty. There is need and scope for improvement in the ties

- PINAK RANJAN CHAKRAVARTY

ROM ties that remained cool during the Cold War era, India's relations with the most important regional organisation in Southeast Asia, ASEAN, has come a long way. ASEAN started as a regional organisation when five nations-Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand-established it in August 1967 at a meeting in Bangkok. Vietnam joined in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997, Cambodia in 1999 and Brunei in 1984, making up the 10 that comprise ASEAN today.

India and ASEAN were not on the same side during the Cold War. India stuck to the principle of non-alignment and some ASEAN nations were allied to the US. Tectonic geopolitical shifts like the disintegration of the Soviet Union created opportunities for the reassessment of India's foreign policy.

The impressive economic growth of ASEAN nations, China's phenomenal rise as an economic power and technological advances that ushered in the digital era were strategic imperatives that became the driver of our policy changes. Under P V Narasimha Rao as prime minister, India began its Look East policy in 1991, which was renamed Act East policy (AEP) by Narendra Modi in 2014. A special envoy to ASEAN based at Jakarta was appointed. In 1992, India became a sectoral partner. In 2018, the ASEAN-India commemorative summit was held in Delhi.

India and ASEAN still view each other as glasses half empty. Expectations are much higher than actual achievements. India has focussed much more on the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, at the expense of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, signalling that its AEP intended to expand eastwards and into the Indo-Pacific region. The free trade agreement with ASEAN became operational in 2010 and by 2018, ASEAN had become India's 4th largest trading partner.