Look East policy (India)

The Act East policy^[1] is an effort by the government of India to cultivate extensive economic and strategic relations with the nations of Southeast Asia to bolster its standing as a regional power and a counterweight to the strategic influence of the People's Republic of China. Initiated in 1991, the Look East policy by Indian government marked a strategic shift in India’s perspective of the world.^[2] It was developed and enacted during the government of Prime Minister Narsimha Rao (1991–1996) and rigorously pursued by the successive administrations of Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998–2004) and Manmohan Singh (2004–2014).

The success of the Look East policy enthused Indian foreign ministry officials to develop the policy into more action-oriented, project- and outcome-based policy.^[3] After a couple of decades, India’s Act East policy, which was announced in 2014 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, became a successor to the Look East policy.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}