'East Asian diplomacy: India a bit short-staffed'

India needs to develop and dispatch more human resources to the South Asian and East Asian region in order to bolster its 'Look East' policy and increase its engagement with a neighbourhood that has significant Chinese influence, Singapore’s foreign minister George Yeo said.

“I wish that India had more diplomats and more trade officials to cultivate each Asean country assiduously, the way China does. And China has the whole repertoire of capabilities to do that. But when it comes to India, I find that you are a bit short-staffed when it comes to external diplomacy,” Yeo said.

Singapore is part of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc, with which India is in the process of concluding a services and investment deal under a free trade agreement (FTA) that became operational earlier this year.

Although bilateral trade between India and Asean has been growing steadily, surpassing 11 per cent between 1993 and 2003, China continues to remain the single largest trading partner of the trading bloc and accounts for over 11 per cent of Asean's total trade. In 2008, the total volume of Asean-India trade stood at $ 47.5 billion, while that of Asean-China was $ 196.9 billion.

“But I think you need to develop more capabilities, need to increase the external staff and deepen knowledge of individual countries because each is different. (Even) when you are dealing with China, each province is different and you need expert knowledge. But these are all good endeavours, because you study, analyse and get profitable outcomes,” the minister added.

But Yeo, who was speaking at event organised by Aspen Institute India, recalled that the beginning of India's proactive engagement with the Asean region, which began last decade, had been met with skepticism from the member nations.

“We found that our Asean partners were slower to see what was happening and to react. But on our side, we told our fellow Asean countries that ‘look India will be important, India is growing and let's prepare for a long-term position’,” he said.

India, however, had dispelled such doubts and the imminent completion of the proposed India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was representative of the country's progress towards forging closer ties with the East, he added.

“Even five years ago, it (India-Japan CEPA) would have been inconceivable. But I'm happy to say that the first small free-trade agreement with Singapore lit the fuse and which is leading to comprehensive engagement of the South East and of East Asia,” Yeo said.

Incidentally, the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which was concluded in 2005, was the first such agreement to be signed by India with any country. Moreover, Singapore is India’s largest trade and investment partner in the Asean bloc.