Though integrating development through convergence of economies sounds like an antithesis to ‘territoriality’, it is going to be the official political agenda for the future. Human development, as envisaged, still remains the core, which reminds us that all future development and integration will pivot around it. The political dynamics of integration embraces the above idea through ‘connectivity’.
Conjoining Southeast Asian region, which is widely separated on the basis of ‘territoriality’, was the main theme of India’s ‘Look East Policy’. That in itself has paid rich dividends today, almost a decade later. According to some scholars, the Look East Policy is considered as the ‘masterstroke’ of Indian foreign policy. However, the land-bridge country (read Myanmar) between India and South East Asia is widely neglected in terms of ‘connectivity’. Geographically, Myanmar is a gateway to Southeast Asia and can be a central hub for exchange of goods, services and technology. Underdeveloped infrastructure and unfavorable institutional and business environment seriously limit the participation of the economy in the regional and global networks. Cross-border connectivity will play a very important role in such a scenario. Establishing better connectivity by all means, namely, material, institutional and ‘people-to-people connectivity’, will allow Myanmar, India and then, the other Southeast Asian countries to raise possibilities for collaboration between and among themselves and to expand economic synergies for development in the region. Moreover, regional interconnectivity through infrastructure development, trade facilitation and regulatory harmonization among the respective economies such as India, Myanmar and other ASEAN members can make each economy more dynamic and bring enormous benefits to the entire region.
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