Act East through North East: Rudi Warjri
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, March 30 2015 : A one-day "Distinguished Lecture Series Programme for Better Understanding of Indian Foreign Policy" was held at Manipur University, Canchipur on Monday.

The program was sponsored by the Minister of External Affairs and organised by the Department of Political Science, Manipur University.

Rudi Warjri, Former Ambassador of India was the Chief Guest while Prof Ksh Bimola Devi and Prof..SRajendra Singh were the Guest of Honour.

The series was presided by Prof S Mangi Singh, Head, Department of Political Science, Manipur University, Canchipur.

Delivering the keynote address, Prof S Mangi Singh said that the lecture series is aimed at spreading better understanding of India's Foreign Policy and expressed the hope that it will be useful for scholars in understanding the foreign policy aspect of India's Act East Policy.

Rudi Warjri (L) and dignitaries during the lecture series

Rudi Warjri delivered a lecture titled, "Act East Policy & North East India".

According to Rudi Warjri, there are two (twin) angles of Act East Policy (AEP).

First is the External Angle, which essentially concerns relations of India as a whole with ASEAN (comprise of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam and Philippines) and East Asia.

The second angle, which is the internal angle is about development of North East India that makes it a viable gate way for the rest of India to ASEAN & East Asia.

In his lecture he devoted to the second aspect of AEP.

Speaking on the psychological dimension of India and NorthEast, Rudi stressed that the hate crimes against Northeasterners in Delhi and other cities have made bad impression about India as a whole to the Northeasterners.

At the same time, the mindset in Delhi is that North East is looked at only from the prism of security and insurgency.

Rudi said that Manipur is the most critical state in India's connectivity to Myanmar and South East Asia.

99 percent of overland formal trade goes through Moreh besides the informal/illegal trade.

It is not surprising that Moreh being talked about as one of the targets 100 smart cities of India.

A recognition that the security and territorial integrity of India in the North East can be best fortified by the combined economic strength of the States in the North East and their economic integration with ASEAN , BIMSTEC and East Asia.

He concluded with the remarks, "Act East through North East" .