Jakarta seminar spotlights ASEAN-India relations

Speaking at the event, Indian Ambassador to ASEAN Suresh K. Reddy said that India has cooperated strongly with ASEAN countries in the fields of economics, trade and infrastructure. It has poured capital in building 152,000km of expressways, and has invested USD140 billion in building railways over the next 5 years in ASEAN.

Intensifying relations with ASEAN is the focus of India’s “Look East” policy, promulgated in 1991 and currently known as the “Act East” policy.

The two sides’ upgrading of their comprehensive dialogue partnership to a strategic partnership and their approval of a Vision Statement in 2012 marked an important road map to development, towards a sustainable relationship for peace and prosperity, he added.

Ambassador Nguyen Hoanh Nam, head of the Vietnam delegation to ASEAN, pledged that with its role as a coordinator for ASEAN-India relations, Vietnam will coordinate with other ASEAN nations and India to seek new measures to further develop ASEAN-India ties.

At the seminar, delegates discussed challenges, opportunities, and the cooperation potential of the current ASEAN-India relations.

They also suggested ways to ensure close connectivity among governments and intensify exchanges among people and businesses.

ASEAN is now India’s fourth largest trade partner with an average annual growth of 22 percent in the past 10 years. Two-way trade reached USD76.52 billion last year./.