India, Asean assess Ukraine war impact, agree to bolster ties
NEW DELHI: The foreign ministers of India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Thursday discussed ways to respond to the impact of the Ukraine crisis on the regional economy and security and agreed to enhance cooperation in key areas such as trade, connectivity, defence and cyber security.
This was the first time India hosted a special meeting with foreign ministers of Asean to mark the 30th anniversary of ties with the 10-member grouping. The meeting was co-chaired by external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan, who both referred to the fallout of the war in Ukraine in their televised opening remarks.
Jaishankar said the process of post-pandemic recovery had been complicated by developments in Europe at a time when the Covid-19 crisis has not fully abated. “This path has become even more arduous with geo-political headwinds which we face due to developments in Ukraine and its knock-on effects on food and energy security, as well as fertiliser and commodities prices, and logistics and supply chain disruptions.”
Balakrishnan was more direct in his criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying Moscow’s actions have “upended the international system of rules and norms and international law which we all depend on and operate on the basis of”.
He added that the “sharpening superpower rivalry between the
US and China has direct implications on all of us in Asia”.
“These developments, if unchecked, can threaten the whole system of peace and stability which we have depended on for the basis of our growth, development and prosperity over many decades,” Balakrishnan said.
Though Myanmar’s ambassador attended a meeting of senior officials of India and Asean held in New Delhi on Wednesday, the country skipped the meeting of foreign ministers — an apparent response to India’s decision to follow the “Asean consensus” on having only non-political representation from Myanmar following last year’s military coup.
The foreign ministers of Laos and the Philippines, too, did not attend the meeting, apparently due to scheduling issues, and these countries were represented by senior officials.
A co-chairs’ statement, which the meeting adopted unanimously, said the two sides agreed to work towards upgrading the existing India-asean strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership, and to begin an early review of the Asean-india Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) to make the pact more userfriendly and simple.