BANGKOK: Home to a fourth of the world’s population, India and Southeast Asia must deepen their strategic engagement to have greater say in world affairs, Vice-President M Hamid Ansari said here today.
Delivering a talk at Thailand?s Chulalongkorn University, the Vice-President said with the global economic and geo-political centre of gravity shifting towards Asia, the time is ripe for our common engagement for bringing greater equity into the international order.
The 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries and India both want an open and fairer global trading system and a reformed United Nations, in particular the Security Council, Dr Ansari said in his address titled India, Thailand and ASEAN: Contours of a Rejuvenated Relationship?.
India places ASEAN at the core of the Act East Policy and at the centre of our dream of an Asian century. There is a very special emphasis on India-ASEAN cooperation in our domestic agenda on infrastructure, manufacturing, trade, skills, urban renewal, smart cities and Make in India programmes, he pointed out.
The breadth and intensity of India’s engagement with South East Asia is unmatched by any of our other regional relationships, the Vice-President said.
This includes 30 annual dialogue mechanisms including a Summit at Prime Ministerial level and seven sectoral dialogues at Ministerial level.
India has opened a separate mission accredited to the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. India-ASEAN cooperation has set up three funds in New Delhi, including the ASEAN-India Cooperation Fund, the ASEAN-India Science and Technology Fund, and the ASEAN-India Green Fund. These are supporting projects ranging from setting up a space station, to fighting malaria to agricultural research.
(The) trident of Commerce, Culture and Connectivity defines the future focus areas of cooperation between ASEAN member States and India, the Vice President said. This includes India?s commitment of a one billion-US dollar Line of Credit for projects to promote India-ASEAN physical and digital connectivity. (AGENCIES)
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