促进印度东北部的贸易和发展（英文）

SPECIAL© 2021 Observer Research Foundation. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, archived, retained or transmitted through print, speech or electronic media without prior written approval from ORF.no. 147J U N E 2 0 2 1Roshan Saha and Soumya BhowmickEnhancing Trade and Development in India’s Northeast2The strategic location of India’s North Eastern Region (NER) offers ample opportunities for enhancing the country’s economic ties. However, supply-chain constraints at the regional level hamper the trade-growth linkages, as do trade barriers, social unrest, and inadequate infrastructure. Enhancing and improving commercial exchanges with neighbouring countries, such as Bangladesh and Myanmar, will strengthen bilateral and regional networks. This report outlines the prospects of leveraging the economic potential of India’s NER, and the challenges that impede progress. AbstractCover: Logistical constraints impede the Northeast’s potential to become a trade hub for agro-based and forestry products, such as Mizoram’s bamboo. Photo: Getty Images/Lovely Ghosh-AFP.3India’s North East Region (NER) has a geo-strategic location—sharing borders with countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Nepal—that makes it conducive to international trade. The region is also rich in natural resources and biodiversity. However, the NER continues to face challenges that impede its development: among them armed insurgency, cross-border migration, movements that demand for separate federal states and autonomous units, and ethnic conflicts.1 Several initiatives have been introduced by the central government, in an attempt to re-align the NER with the mainstream political and economic goals of the country. Most notable of these is the Act East Policy (AEP). It is therefore important to understand how such policies and initiatives have facilitated the economic development of NER. The Northeastern states are economically important primarily on two fronts2– first, the strategic location of the region that connects India to the robust Southeast Asian marketsa and second, the presence of potent input market catalysts such as social capital (diversity, cultural richness), physical (potential energy supply hubs), human (inexpensive, skilled labour) and natural (minerals, forests).Introductiona The NER is a unique region in India that is precariously connected to the mainland by the narrow “chicken’s neck” or the Siliguri corridor. It is also ethnically, culturally and linguistically unique. It is India’s gateway to the East and also accounts for the maximum number of international boundaries that India shares with its neighbours. In this sense, it is at the frontier of India’s foreign policy, and several external factors, such as relations with Japan, make it a critical geostrategic space, especially in reinforcing strategic partnerships to counter the emergence of a China-centric order.Attribution: Roshan Saha and Soumya Bhowmick