India's foreign policy and economic libralization

India was passing through an economic mess in the 1990s. Hence economy was liberalized and a plethora of reforms were brought about in the economy by the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao under his able Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Old policies of licensing, quota, permits, etc. were abolished to a major extent and foreign investors and businesses were given a red carpet welcome. It was clear that for additional capital formation and employment generation foreign investment has to be the key. And therefore, India instead of wooing only the developed Western countries started emphasizing on the South-East Asian countries in a major way. This was the start of India's cherished Look East Policy. LEP was patronized by successors of P.V. Narasimha Rao like I.K. Gujral and Atal Behari Vajpayee, who continued to give their support to this new dimension of India's foreign policy. However later the policy also attached with itself some new dimensions – diplomatic and defense and now this policy has blossomed into an important and successful tool of India's foreign policy. In 1993, Prime Minister Rao, wishing to create a climate of confidence between India and Southeast Asia, paid an official visit to Thailand, the first country he visited outside the Indian subcontinent. In a situation where the Doha round under WTO has not seen success as yet and where western economies have collapsed the growing value of India's relations with ASEAN as a whole needs no emphasis.