Why in news?

In Asia Pacfic Youth Exchange (APYE) meet union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, PM’s vision of “Act East” imparting a new approach in our relations with neighbouring countries

Act  East

India’s ‘Act East’ policy is a diplomatic initiative to promote economic, strategic and cultural relations with the vast Asia-Pacific region at different levels.

Objectives of ''Act East Policy

• Promote economic cooperation, cultural ties, and develop a strategic relationship with countries in the Asia-Pacific region through continuous engagement at regional, bilateral, and multilateral levels.
• To increase the interaction of the North-Eastern Indian states with other neighboring countries.
• To find out the alternatives of the traditional business partners like; more focus on the Pacific countries in addition to the South East Asian countries.

Background

The country’s eastward drive since 1992 has underscored the importance of this region in its contemporary international relations. ‘Act  East’  and its early avatar, ‘Look East’ are not different; rather, they are two sides of the same coin, representing two different, but continuing phases in the evolution of India’s policy towards the Asia-Pacific region.

Key differences between “Look East Policy” and “Act East Policy”

The focus of the “Look East Policy” was to increase economic integration with the South East Asian countries and the area was just confined to South East Asia only. On the other hand the focus of the “Act East Policy” is economic and security integration and the focus area increased to South East Asia as well as East Asia.

Source: PIB