ASEAN-India at 25: A narrative of optimism
As India moves toward completing 25 years of its relationship with ASEAN, the ties between the two deepen, highlighting the promise and potential of this crucial partnership.
I t’s an unfolding narrative of opportunity and optimism as India and the 10- nation ASEAN prepare to celebrate 25 years of dialogue partnership in 2017. A historic milestone for New Delhi’s reinvigorated Act East policy, the commemorative summit will mark 15 years of the summit-level interaction and five years of strategic partnership between India and ASEAN, home to over 1.8 billion people and dynamic growth hubs in the evolving geo-economic landscape of the region. “Shared Values, Common Destiny” — the summit’s theme encapsulates the essence of India’s blossoming relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It is animated by the soaring vision of an Asian century and a commitment to shaping an inclusive regional order.
Announcing the silver jubilee celebrations at the 14th ASEAN-India summit in the Laotian capital, Vientiane, on September 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke eloquently about the promise and potential of this crucial partnership. “The planned commemorative activities are ambitious, just as the promise and potential of our strategic engagement is immense. In India, you would find a ready and reliable partner, willing to march with you in step and fulfill this promise and realize its potential,” PM Modi told the ASEAN leaders.
The year-long celebrations, to be launched at an ASEAN- India Foreign Minister’s Meeting in 2017, will encompass a diverse array of activities that will illuminate a myriad of facets of the ASEAN- India relationship. The calendar of celebratory events will include, among others, a business summit, CEOs Forum, a car rally and sailing expedition, and cultural festivals.
FROM LOOK EAST TO ACT EAST
In many ways, this 25- year journey of marching together with a shared vision has been uniquely empowering and exhilarating for both India and ASEAN, which have come to forge an all-encompassing partnership straddling just about every area of human endeavor. The launch of the dialogue partnership between India and ASEAN flowed from the visionary initiative taken by India’s then-Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao to launch the Look East policy in 1991. It coincided with economic reforms and India embracing globalization. The Look East policy was driven by the idea of blending the potential of India and its emerging strengths with technology, innovation and capital in ASEAN countries. In the succeeding years, the partnership witnessed the initiation of summit-level meetings in 2002, the elevation of relations to the level of strategic partnership in 2012, the signing of the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement in Goods in 2009 and the FTA in services and investment in 2014.
Since PM Modi took charge of the world’s largest democracy, the Look East policy has acquired an added traction and salience in India’s foreign policy calculus and transformed into Act East policy that underscored greater political commitment to upgrading India’s relations with ASEAN and its extended eastern neighborhood. This economically vibrant region is increasingly getting linked up with India’s development agenda, pivoted around interlinked programs of “Make it India”, “Digital India”, “Smart Cities” and “Skill India”.