India is choosy about eastern neighbours

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

: India has been selective in developing its relationship with its eastern neighbours. Over the years, India’s merchandise trade with Asean remained concentrated in five major countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and to some extent, the Philippines.

In June 1997, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMST-EC) was set up at a sub-regional meeting in Thailand comprising countries like Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Subsequently Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal joined up and BIMST-EC decided to work out a free-trade framework agreement. India expected that BIMST-EC would be the gateway for strengthening its relationship with Asean.

The Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) came into being from November 10, 2000 at Vientiane and the first ministerial meeting was held at that time. MCG comprises six countries namely, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and India. The emphases are on four areas of cooperation, which are tourism, culture, education and transportation linkage in order to be the solid foundation for future trade and investment cooperation in the region.

But India’s policy over the years has been to develop relations with the influential countries in east and south-east Asia like China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines. India has not shown a great deal of interest in some of its other smaller neighbours.

The Cambodian prime minister, Samdech Hun Sen, for instance, was not accorded a ceremonial welcome when he landed in Delhi on July 9, this year. He had to leave the country immediately—the reason was—the nation was mourning the death of the former prime minister, Chandra Shekhar. However, Sen is again visiting India on December 8, this year.

In bilateral trade with Cambodia, Laos and Vietman, the trade balance is heavily weighed in favour of India, while in bilateral trade with Thailand and Malaysia, the trade balance is not in favour of India. In 2006-07, India’s exports to Cambodia grew by 115.63% to be at $52.16 million, while its imports from that country was only $1.58 million.