Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book explores the compilation of selected essays presented in a two-day international seminar on India's Look East Policy (LEP) and the North-Eastern Region (NER): 'Strengthening the Continental Route', organized by Indian Council of Social Science Research-North Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong, during 21, 22 March 2013. In order to integrate NER2 with LEP, India has to play a proactive role in promoting the subregional development cooperation like Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and BangladeshChinaIndiaMyanmar (BCIM), which envisage a role for NER in cross-border development initiatives. Since the beginning of twenty-first century, the LEP covered more states and domains, in which Japan played a more important role. In India's LEP, silent competition with China is often present.