Keynote address by Dr Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs on “India’s North-East and BIMSTEC- A Retrospect”

09/04/2010

I am delighted to be here in Shillong today in such a splendid setting, the abode of clouds. It is my first visit to the beautiful North-East of our country since becoming a Minister and I am very happy that an event closely linked to my Ministry has brought me here. As many of you are aware, the Ministry of External Affairs has over the past couple of years embarked on a vigorous outreach programme as part of its Public Diplomacy efforts. In this context, I recollect that in June 2007, for the first time, a Seminar was organized by the Public Diplomacy Division of the MEA here on India’s Look East Policy. It is a matter of satisfaction, that the general direction set then has been followed and we are back again in Shillong for discussion on a very timely and important topic that focuses on the role of BIMSTEC in unlocking the potential of the North-East of India.

The North-East of India is the bridge between two sub-regions of Asia – South Asia and South-East Asia. Both regions are in the midst of tremendous positive change, spurred by economic growth and development. For various reasons, the details of which you are well aware, we in India have so far to a large extent not been able to leverage the various opportunities that this sub-region of India offers for the well-being and prosperity of the people who live here. Amongst the opportunities we should seize are not only the geographical factor of being a bridgehead between South-Asia and South-East Asia, but also the natural and human resources of the Seven Sisters of the North-East. Today’s challenge is to harness these opportunities to ensure that growth and development does not bypass this region but passes by this region. It is encouraging to note in this context the role BIMSTEC is attempting to play in truly linking this region not only to other parts of India but beyond India.

The defining feature of India is 'Unity in Diversity' and 'Diversity in Unity'. Each and every region of India exhibits this feature along with a strong underlying sense of national unity and Indianness at the heart of this diversity. This rich mosaic of diversity and variety can be more prominently seen in the North-Eastern states of the Indian Union. Nature has endowed this entire region bountifully in many respects. It has rich bio-diversity; its hydro-potential is unparalleled; it has petroleum and natural gas along with other minerals and it also has great forest wealth. But more than these rich natural endowments, it is the great human resource wealth of the region which is a unique endowment, being a result of the confluence of diverse ethnic, linguistic, religious, cultural and educational currents.

Although industrialisation was brought to this region by the British East India Company in the early 19th-century with the cultivation and first export of tea way back in 1839, the rapid development of industry has not taken place here. Even coal was found here soon thereafter and exploited which led to the development of private and Government railways. The first oil refinery of Asia was set up in 1901 in Digboi following the discovery of oil in Upper Assam. It is also important to remember that in the past, during the times of acute foreign exchange scarcity, Assam’s tea and jute exports were sources of much-needed foreign exchange. So it is all the more ironic and disheartening that today this region is yet to take full advantage of the industrialization and economic development of our country, and that significant differences in terms of some development indicators have emerged with other parts of India. Happily various initiatives are in place to correct the discrepancies and I am happy to observe that even my Ministry is playing a leadership role in one such initiative, which is to contribute towards BIMSTEC’s efforts to bring economic development to this strategic region of India.

With the paradigm shift from a state-centred approach to one of interdependence and global and regional cooperation, we have become all the more aware of the geo-economic potential of the North-Eastern region as a gateway to East and South-East Asia. I am convinced that by gradually integrating this region through cross-border market access, the North-Eastern states can become the bridge between the Indian economy and what is arguably the fastest growing and most dynamic region in the world. While we live with the geographic fact that our North-Eastern region is landlocked, the geographical location of the North-East makes it the doorway to South-East and East-Asia and vice versa, a doorway for these economies into India.

Let us consider some basic facts. A glance at the map of the North Eastern region reveals that the region is almost entirely surrounded by foreign States and the seven sisters of the region are internally locked with concomitant locational disadvantages, despite the fact that each of these States shares at least one international border. The North-Eastern region is cradled by five Asian States – China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland share a 1643 km long border with Myanmar; Assam Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram share a 1880 km border with Bangladesh; Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Sikkim share a 468 km border with Bhutan; Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim share a 1325 km border with the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The region's difficulties following from the loss of connectivity and market access as a result of Partition in 1947 are well known. Traditional transportation routes – rail, road and river, linking the Chittagong and Calcutta ports, suddenly became unavailable and alternative routes were prohibitively costly. To cite an example, the distance between Agartala and Calcutta port is 1,700 km, whereas, earlier, it was just about 375 km through the territory of what became East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. The result, therefore, was massive market and logistical disruption, from which the North-East of India still suffers.

The UPA government under Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has taken a number of initiatives, which will have a long-term economic impact on the region. The important initiatives include the launching of the North-Eastern Region Vision 2020 by the Hon’ble Prime Minister in July, 2008. This vision is a historic path-breaking document which spells out the challenges that need to be addressed in a collaborative manner over the next ten years. In pursuance of this Vision, seventeen Thematic Groups, headed by the line Ministries or Departments in specific areas, have been set up. The Ministry of DoNER has assumed the responsibility for monitoring the Prime Minister’s economic packages announced during the visits of the Prime Minister from time to time to the North-Eastern States. These packages contain important infrastructure projects, such as rail and road development and power projects.

Since the services industry is not very well-developed in the region, incentives have also been provided to some specified sectors like hotels, adventure and leisure sports, nursing homes and vocational training institutes. Considering the rich biodiversity of the region, biotechnology has been brought under the purview of the new Policy.

This may sound like an internally-focused approach, but it is part of a larger picture. India’s ‘Look East’ Policy, which was enunciated in the early nineties, was not merely a matter of external policy; it was also a strategic shift in India’s vision of the world and India’s place in the evolving global economy. Most of all, it was about reaching out to our civilizational neighbours in the region, and availing of the economic opportunities presented by these countries.

India’s engagement with BIMSTEC is a key component of our Look-East Policy. I am glad to see my friend the Ambassador of Thailand here [check?], because in a sense, BIMSTEC is a forum where our Look East Policy meets Bangkok's Look West Policy. BIMSTEC is a unique link between South-Asia and South-East Asia. From the very beginning, it has been considered a powerful mechanism to promote opportunities for trade, investment and tourism between these two regions. Societies within BIMSTEC are pluralistic; our languages are rich and diverse and we have a shared cultural heritage.

Since its inception in 1997, BIMSTEC is playing a role in connecting South-Asia and South-East Asia. BIMSTEC started in 1997 for regional cooperation with only four member-countries. Today, the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of BIMSTEC partners has increased two and a half times to reach 1.7 trillion US dollars. At present, connectivity among the members is far more than it was in 1997, and intra-BIMSTEC trade turnover and investment and people to people exchanges have multiplied.

Starting with six sectors, the BIMSTEC agenda of cooperation has expanded to fourteen sectors: i) Trade & Investment (ii) Technology (iii) Energy (iv)Transportation & Communication (v) Tourism (vi) Fisheries (vii) Agriculture (viii) Cultural Cooperation (ix) Environment and Disaster Management (x) Public Health (xi) People-to-People Contact (xii) Poverty Alleviation, (xiii) Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime and (xiv) Climate Change.

India is the lead country in important areas such as Transportation & Communication, Tourism, Environment and Disaster Management and Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime.

A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) within the BIMSTEC framework is being discussed. A BIMSTEC Energy Centre and a Weather and Climate Centre are proposed to be established in India. We have also offered 330 annual training slots to BIMSTEC countries under our Technical economic co-operation programme.

If we take advantage of the experiences of member-countries in a concerted way, it is possible to have a far-reaching impact on poverty reduction and on the overall development of the region. For this to happen, tremendous effort and investment will have to be made in the North-Eastern states to benefit from the doors that are being opened. There needs to be greater focus on capacity building, especially in building up human resources capacity, by preparing them for the opportunities that will open up in the commerce, tourism and services sectors.

The overlap between the internal and the international makes it also essential that we dovetail the development strategies of the North-Eastern region with the BIMSTEC initiative. Pursuance of the Look East Policy for over 15 years has put in place certain diplomatic and political structures. There is now need to make these structures work for the North-Eastern Region. Diplomatic initiatives urgently need to be converted into commercial, touristic and investment opportunities. For this purpose, MEA has to closely work in close cooperation with the Ministry for the Development of the North-Eastern Region, the Planning Commission, all economic ministries and the State governments.

Bilateral relationships are also vital in strengthening our collective efforts. I am particularly pleased to see the High Commissioner of Bangladesh here, because we have recently had an excellent visit from his Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to New Delhi. The increased momentum of the strengthening of our relations inevitably contribute to our effective cooperation within BIMSTEC as well.

Development of transportation and communication linkages and greater connectivity would play a key role in ensuring more effective regional development and cooperation. In this regard, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has conducted a study on transport infrastructure and logistics that has identified the bottlenecks in this area among BIMSTEC countries and suggested ways to overcome them. Tackling constraints and bottlenecks in transportation and communication holds the key to enhancing overall cooperation as connectivity in the areas of transport and communication is the basic building block to obtain any form of cooperation.

It is heartening to note that the last Ministerial meeting of BIMSTEC in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, in December 2009, endorsed the BIMSTEC Transport Infrastructure and Logistics Study (BTILS) conducted by ADB. This paves the way for further steps to strengthen transportation and communication among BIMSTEC countries.

As part of the Look East Policy, India strongly supports the various initiatives taken to improve comprehensive physical connectivity between countries in the region. These include the Asian Highway Network which is being coordinated through the United Nations ESCAP office in Bangkok, which envisages a comprehensive network of roads connecting the countries in Asia. There is separately an East-West Highway Project running from Vietnam through to Myanmar, through which India could get access to all mainland South East Asian countries i.e. Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore.

From our perspective, the most critical link would be to create road connectivity from the North-East of India through Myanmar into South East Asia. In this connection, there is a Trilateral Highway Project between India, Myanmar and Thailand, under construction. Thailand and India in fact have completed construction of the link roads on either side. Some portions of the internal road connectivity in Myanmar remain to be completed, and Myanmar has made requests for grants and funding to enable this project to be completed, which are under consideration by both India and Thailand. Once this road is completed, it would conveniently link us with the East-West Highway as well as the Asian Highway Network.

We are involved in a variety of cross-border development projects with Myanmar in diverse fields such as roads, railways, telecommunications, IT, science and technology and power. These initiatives are aimed at improving connectivity between North-Eastern India and Western Myanmar and are expected to give an impetus to the local economies as well as bilateral trade. Probably among the most important is the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Facility, which envisages connectivity between Indian ports on the eastern seaboard and Sittwe Port in Myanmar and then through riverine transport and by road to Mizoram, thereby providing an alternate route for transport of goods to the North-East of India. In fact, given the importance that Government of India attaches to this project, we have decided to fund it completely on our own. The upgradation of the 160 km Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyo Road in Myanmar across Manipur has already been completed. Discussions are also on to start work on the Trilateral Highway Project, which proposes to connect Moreh in Manipur to Mae Sot in Thailand via Bagan in Myanmar. Efforts are also underway to improve infrastructure, particulary road links, at the second India-Myanmar border trade point at Rhi-Zowkhathar in Mizoram sector by upgradation of the Rhi-Tidim and Rhi-Falam road segments in Myanmar. Apart from developing road links, efforts are underway to have a rail link from Jiribham in Assam to Hanoi in Vietnam passing through Myanmar.

So the theme “Land locked to land linked” is appropriate. But land locked is a geographical concept. In today’s IT age you can be linked without land. That is why we are also working on enhancing digital connectivity with this region, in particular through an optical fibre cable link between Moreh in Manipur and Mandalay in Myanmar.

Similarly, India's excellent relations with Bhutan and its involvement in the development and growth of Bhutan's economy also translate into direct benefits for the North-Eastern states. Recent increases in the export of raw material and agricultural produce from this region to Bhutan have meant better opportunities for agriculturists and industries in the North-East. In fact, Jaigaon on the Indian side of the border across from Phuntsoling on the Bhutan side, has grown and become prosperous with its position as the nodal point for trade with Bhutan. Mutually beneficial development of water resources between India and Bhutan is another characteristic of this relationship and most of the hydro-electric power that is being generated as a result from projects like Chukha, Kurichu and Tala is for the use of the Eastern and North-Eastern states of India.

Ladies and Gentlemen

The BIMSTEC process has made steady progress over the brief years of its existence. Our hosting of the second Summit in New Delhi last year and two Ministerial Meetings during the last three years of our Chairmanship has helped the process move forward. Important milestones achieved during India's Chairmanship of BIMSTEC have been the finalisation of the Convention on Combating International Terrorism and the Memorandum of Association for the Establishment of Cultural Industries Commission and Observatory, the Energy Centre and Centre for Weather and Climate.

BIMSTEC cooperation should also be accelerated in the other agreed priority areas such as energy, fisheries, agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism and transnational crime, environment and natural disaster management.

We see BIMSTEC as an important vehicle to promote regional cooperation and economic integration in a range of areas in our region. We would like to see BIMSTEC develop as a vibrant organization effectively making the North-East our country’s gateway to South-East Asia. Our Governor is widely read man, and he is aware that I have often argued that in today’s globalized world the distinction between the national and the foreign is increasingly irrelevant. Standing here in Shillong today, I see an opportunity for India to advance its national priorities in this region and its foreign policy interests in the wider region in one seamless approach. I am sure this will offer much ground for rich discussion and I wish you a rewarding and fruitful seminar today.

Thank you and Jai Hind.

Shillong
April 9, 2010

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