Sinha to focus on economics

Seeking to break out of the blame game cycle with Pakistan, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha is all set to propose ‘‘economics as the route to regional diplomacy’’ in an address to a South Asian audience here tomorrow.

Drawing upon his experience as Finance minister, Sinha is expected to underline his economics-as-foreign policy vision at a seminar here organised by the Bangladesh-based South Asian Centre for Policy Studies, which deliberately bills itself as a network focused on issues of ‘‘regional’’ concern.

Sinha’s approach could clash with the harsher regime intended by the Home ministry for Pakistani visitors as well as Bangladeshi aliens, but so far the MEA seems willing to live with this difference in perspective. In his visits to Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives soon after he took over, Sinha has argued that India, as the biggest state in South Asia, needs to use both carrot and stick in its regional policy without giving the impression of being a ‘‘soft state.’’