‘Involve NE in Look East Policy'

NEW DELHI, March 9 (Agencies): Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, till recently the Secretary-General of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has said that if India wants its North–east to benefit from its much publicized Look East Policy, it must bring top leaders of South East Asia to that region and encourage dialogue and discussion there.

“India can call a meeting of the ASEAN+India in the North-East, in Guwahati, on the banks of the Brahmaputra, from where your Prime Minister (Dr. Manhoman Singh) is elected, of the foreign ministers and even a Summit,” declared Dr. Pitsuwan, who was Secretary General of ASEAN for five years and is a former Foreign Minister of Thailand, and widely regarded as one of the most articulate of Asian leaders.

The Thai leader made his remarks while delivering the Fourth Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew Lecture at Jamia Milia Islamia under the auspices of the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, the only such Centre in a Central University.

The Centre, whose founder-director is Prof. Sanjoy Hazarika, the well-known writer, policy analyst and researcher, invited Dr. Pitsuwan to Jamia during its international Conference on ‘The Eastern Himalaya:  Climate Change, Livelihoods and Poverty’. The conference drew over 100 persons, including the Environment Ministry of the Govt . of India, scholars, scientists, media, students and activists from the UK, US, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Thailand,, international organizations, diplomats  and delegates from the North-east.

Reflecting on his visit to the North-east a few years ago, Dr. Pistuwan said that its role must be central to the efforts by ASEAN and India to build “the East-West Corridor from the Mekong River Basin” to the Ganges River Basin and beyond. The ethnic and environmental diversity of the region would also be plus factors in this engagement. Dr. Pitsuwan’s innovative policy of “constructive engagement” with Myanmar over the past years both as Thai Foreign Minister and then as ASEAN’s main trouble shooter, has been critical to the recent, rapid pro-democracy changes in that country.

“Our guiding principle is that when India grows, we grow, when China grows, we grow: The challenge before us is how to keep the balance between two nuclear powers and the evolution of integration with ASEAN in the middle will help mutual dependency,” Dr. Pitsuwan declared.