India-ASEAN conclave: Foreign ministers agree on unified response to global issues

What is the News?

The Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers Meeting was held in New Delhi.

What is the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers Meeting?

Chaired by: The meeting was co-chaired by India’s External Affairs Minister and Singapore Foreign Minister.

The meeting was also attended by Foreign Ministers of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Lao PDR, Philippines and Thailand sent representatives of their foreign ministers.

Purpose: The meeting was held to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations in 2022 which has been designated as the ASEAN-India Friendship Year. 

What are the key highlights from the meeting?

The ministers reviewed the status of the ASEAN-India Partnership and set out the path for the coming decade. 

Deliberations were held on COVID-19 & Health, Trade & Commerce, Connectivity, Education and Capacity Building as well as the implementation of the ASEAN-India Joint Statement on Cooperation on the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. 

About ASEAN-India Dialogue

ASEAN-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of a sectoral partnership in 1992. The dialogue translated into a full dialogue partnership in December 1995, a Summit level Partnership in 2002 and a Strategic partnership in 2012. 

ASEAN is central to India’s Act East Policy and its vision for the wider Indo-Pacific. This partnership encompasses many sectoral dialogue mechanisms and working groups that meet regularly at various levels and include annual Summit, Ministerial and Senior Officials meetings. 

The ongoing India-ASEAN collaboration is guided by the Plan of Action 2021-2025 which was adopted in 2020.

Source: The post is based on the article “India-ASEAN conclave: Foreign ministers agree on unified response to global issues” published in Indian Express on 17th June 2022.