Conference on Look East Policy India and Myanmar: Pitching for Greater Connectivity

Concept Note

India’s relations with Myanmar have gathered a new momentum ever since India launched the Look East Policy (LEP) in the early 1990s.  The LEP was not just an external economic policy blueprint or a journey of openness and global economic integration, it marked a strategic shift in India’s vision and its place in the comity of nations. This visionary policy created a new framework for deepening economic, political, cultural and people-to-people ties between India and Myanmar, in particular. Thanks to the Look East Policy, India’s gaze is now falling on Southeast and East Asian region.

 Today, India’s influence and clout in the region is well recognised. Many in the West interpret India’s increasing interactions with the region and its wider acceptability in scores of regional organisations as counterweight to China’s growing economic and strategic muscle. Be that as it may, India is an important actor and its influence in South East Asia is growing by the day. Today, Myanmar has emerged as an important strategic partner for India. Myanmar is after all a ‘land-bridge’ between India and South East Asia.

There are several factors that have propelled India to cultivate closer ties with Myanmar. These include peace, stability and development in the North-East, transit trade, greater economic opportunities and protecting strategic interests. India’s Look East Policy received a major fillip thanks to the introduction of open door economic reform that Myanmar had initiated in the late 1980s and later to Yangon’s response to the democratic reform process.   

India sees Myanmar as a springboard for its engagement with South East and East Asia and it remains a vital link in our strategic partnership with ASEAN. India sees its partnership with Myanmar not merely as a reaffirmation of ties with neighboring countries or as an instrument of economic development, but also as an integral part of our vision of a stable, secure and prosperous Asia and its surrounding Indian Ocean and Pacific regions. 

The region that benefits the most from the multi- pronged Look East Policy is the North-East. In fact, the road to development in India’s North-East passes through Myanmar. India has announced a target of increasing the share of manufacturing in its GDP from 15 % to 25 % by 2025. Myanmar would play a critical role if India hopes to fully integrate itself with South East Asia. Such interactions and integration would benefit our North-Eastern region the most. It offers tremendous potential and scope for all-round development of the North-Eastern region, given its proximity, historical ties and complementarities of varying nature with Myanmar and other neighbouring countries. The development of physical connectivity between the North-Eastern States and Myanmar therefore assumes paramount importance.

Over the years with a view to promoting vast economic expansion and development of the North-Eastern States, several bilateral ventures between India and Myanmar have been conceptualised, proposed and announced in the areas of infrastructural development, communications, road and rail connectivity and other long-term projects by both India and Myanmar.

Connectivity is of utmost interest as far as India’s engagement with the South East Asian countries is concerned.  The success of projects like the Trilateral Highway, the Kaladan Multimodal Transport project, the Mekong-India Economic Corridor, among others will go a long way in improving and enhancing connectivity between India and ASEAN countries.

Needless to say the North-Eastern States stand to benefit from greater connectivity but they would also face the repercussions of haphazard infrastructure development if such development impacts environment or leads to displacement of people. Geographically and strategically mega projects would have a significant bearing on the North-East.  

India is far from exploiting the full potential of its Look East Policy in terms of integrating itself with Myanmar and the South East Asian region. Under the framework of the Look East Policy and BIMSTEC, several institutional arrangements have been created but a lot remains to be done. Development of transportation and communication links, says an IDSA document, must be considered “as a strategic issue”.

It is an open secret that much of the problems and difficulties faced by the North Eastern States are due to the sudden loss of connectivity and market access as a result of Partition. Traditional transportation routes –rail, road and river suddenly became unavailable. India’s Look East Policy and its deep engagement with Myanmar and other South East Asian countries have the potential to mark a paradigm shift in the region’s all round development. Economic growth and infrastructure development in Burma will have greater impact on the region, just as the development of India’s North-East will spur change in Myanmar.

While there are huge expectations, there are also voices of concern and misgivings in certain quarters in both the North-Eastern States and Myanmar about the long-term impact of such deeper engagement. Much of it is the result of lack of credible information. China’s growing clout in the region is also a factor in such a perception.  

There are several ongoing projects. Not much is known to the people of the region about the significance of the ongoing and potential projects such as Moreh-Tamu-Kalewa Road, India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, Trans-Asian Highway, India-Myanmar rail linkages, Kaladan Multi-modal project, the Stilwell road, Tamanthi Hydroelectricity project and optical fibre network between North-East India and South East Asia.

This conference seeks to bridge the information gap. The discussion will revolve around three main sub-themes- (i) Overview of India's Look East Policy, (ii) Changing Economic and Geopolitical Scenario and Opportunities for India and Myanmar, and (iii) Dimensions of Connectivity with Special Focus on India's North East and Myanmar.