India and South East Asia: Cultural, Economic and Strategic Linkages

About The Book: India's Look East Policy (LEP) has led to a redioscvery of India's cultural and economic relations with countries and Southeast Asia. The present volume tries to deepen this interaction by exploring the nature of the cultural and economic relations between India and countries of the region not only in the past but their relevance to the present. It emphasizes the tradition of connectivity and mutual reconcilliation between various cultures, a tradition of the countries of the region which was strengthened by close contracts with India, both in the Ancient and Medieval periods. It also notes the challenge to these traditions by the rise forces of Islamic fundamentalism in the present.The book examines in detail the emerging economic links between India and countries of Southeast Asia and the problems facing Corporate India to meet the challenge posed by the Free Trade Agreements (FTSs). The growing partnership between Indian and ASEAN about strategic needs of the region including the western Pacific, and the prospects of growing an arc of peace and prosperity of the region are also examined.