The Issues:
What I have been fundamentally trying to convey is that the expansion of the trade relationships between India and South East and East Asia through Myanmar is dictated both by global and regional realities.
In this both India and Myanmar are appropriately placed to gain.
The potential gains for Myanmar is very high, and the country now seems to be aware and prepared for that.
India is also slowly to begin with but surely and with an externally pressed urgency seems to be moving towards expansion of her economic links with the countries in this region despite the long grown inertia of disbelieving the North Eastern part of the country (includes Manipur) for economic interventions for economic objectives.
Now India has necessarily to look at the economic problems of her North Eastern corner through economic eyes, and not through the eyes of so-called national security and the army generals.
That is where the joint future of the country and the region lies.
It is exactly here that the region also needs to do its own introspection.
Only blaming the Central Government would not take the region far.
The regional governments have also to play their own roles for the development of the region by allowing development articulation, fostering development debate and actively participating in development initiatives and intervention.
The regional governments themselves have to evolve strategies for dovetailing the regional developmental needs to the unfolding economic relationships for maximisation of regional gains.
As regards Manipur, the State government should constitute a team of experts (let me emphasise, a team of experts, not the team of officials as the State Government is wont to do) in right earnest to fully examine as to how the State can prepare to capitalise from the unfolding scenario.
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Part 6
| Footnotes |
Amar Yumnam, a visiting Scholar at University of Southern California, Los Angeles, contributes regularly to e-pao.net . This article was a seminar presentation on "Indo Myanmar Socio-Economic and Trade Relationships" oragnized by 'Indo Myanmar Fraternal Alliance'. He can be contacted at [email protected] . This article was webcasted on December 10th 2006.
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