Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday presented a 12-point proposal to expand cooperation between India and 10-nation ASEAN in a range of areas such as connectivity, trade, and digital transformation and called for building a rules-based post-COVID world order.
The establishment of a multi-modal connectivity and economic corridor linking South East Asia, India, West Asia, and Europe and offering to share New Delhi’s digital public infrastructure stack with ASEAN partners are among the proposals he announced at the annual ASEAN-India Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The PM’s 12-point roadmap included an ASEAN-India fund for the digital future focusing on cooperation in digital transformation and financial connectivity and an announcement on the renewal of support to the Economic and Research Institute of ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
It also included the PM’s call for a collective fight against terrorism, terror financing, and cyber-disinformation as well as to raise issues being faced by Global South in multilateral fora.
Two joint statements — one on maritime cooperation, and the other on food security– were adopted at the Summit.
“The progress of free and open Indo-Pacific and elevating the Voice of Global South is in the common interest of all,” he said.
The proposals listed by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) included PM Modi’s call for collectively raising issues being faced by Global South in multilateral fora and an invitation to the ASEAN countries to join the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine being established by the World Health Organization in Gujarat, India.
The PM offered to share India’s experience in providing affordable and quality medicines to people through Jan-Aushadhi Kendras and invited ASEAN countries to join the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or One Earth, One Family, One Future– this sentiment is also the theme of India’s G-20 Presidency,” PM Modi noted.
The ASEAN-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of a sectoral partnership in 1992. This graduated to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995 and a Summit-level partnership in 2002. These ties were elevated to a strategic partnership in 2012.
The ties between India and ASEAN have been on a significant upswing in the last few years with the focus being on boosting cooperation in the areas of trade and investment as well as security and defense.