Natural ally

Apropos of “China hits back at US with retaliatory tariffs” (July 7), in an ever changing world where new tariff and non-tariff barriers are seen on a daily basis almost, multi-trade agreements are stalled, cross-border investments remain just on paper. Now, the pressure of the US on India to stop import of oil from Iran is a diktat of another kind. It is important for India to consolidate trade ties with Asean countries with a new vigour — Asean being the natural business partner for India.

The neighbourhood-first concept is more relevant than ever before at a time when we see the United States President Donald Trump talking only of “America First”; President Putin, on the other side, has put Russia back on the saddle. A case in point: We have been exporting buffalo meat to Malaysia for almost 35 years now and it is the most stable and evolved market for us.

Indonesia is all set to become the fourth largest economy in the next two decades, so setting up strong trade ties will only benefit both.

Completing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) at the earliest will be extremely beneficial for the region and trade. The potential can be seen by the fact that India-Asean trade is close to $80 billion, whereas China-Asean trade is over $400 billion. Isn’t there a huge opportunity for us as a nation to fill in and take advantage of this?

This is an era of economic consolidation for India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and it is really important at this point of time that we see the winds of change and develop a course of mutual advantage for India as well as Asean countries. India’s Look East policy needs to have more focus and consolidation and now is the time for it. Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to: The Editor, Business Standard Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg New Delhi 110 002 Fax: (011) 23720201 · E-mail: letters@bsmail.in All letters must have a postal address and telephone number