India- ASEAN Relations
India- ASEAN Relations
India’s focus on a strengthened and multi-faceted relationship with ASEAN is an outcome of the significant changes in the world’s political and economic scenario since the early 1990s and India’s own march towards economic liberalisation. India’s search for economic space has resulted in our ‘Look East’ policy. ASEAN’s economic, political and strategic importance in the larger Asia-Pacific Region and its potential to become a major partner of India in trade and investment is a significant factor in our policy paradigms. ASEAN’s steady expansion westward to include Myanmar has also brought it to our land boundaries. It now provides a land bridge for India to connect with the ASEAN countries. ASEAN, on its part, seeks access to India’s professional and technical strengths. Our traditional friendship with the CLMV countries also makes India a valuable ally for promoting the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI).
2. India and ASEAN have convergence in their security perspectives. India have vital stakes in peace and stability in the region, including the security of the sea-lanes of the Indian Ocean for smooth flow of raw materials, merchandise and energy supplies. Since 1996, India has been an active participant in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
There has been steady progress in the India-ASEAN relationship since the policy was initiated in 1991. India became sectoral dialogue partners of ASEAN in 1992. In 1996, this was upgraded to full dialogue partnership. Since 2002, we have annual Summits with ASEAN – along with China, Japan and Republic of Korea. These political level interactions are further strengthened through the Senior Officials’ Meetings, as also specialised working groups in the various functional areas.
ASEAN now has a charter which came into force on 15th December, 2008. With the adoption of this charter, is functioning as an organization within and its relationship with the outside world has acquired a new institutional form. In terms of this charter, Sh. Biren Nanda, India’s Ambassador to Indonesia has been appointed as India’s Ambassador/PR to ASEAN in succession to Shri N. Ravi.
Trade and Investment
5. India ASEAN trade statistics (in US$ billion)
6. India-ASEAN trade amounted to US $ 43.90 billion in 2009-10 which saw a slight decline on account of global recession. The value of our exports was US $ 18.11 billion and that of our imports was US $ 25.79 billion. In keeping with the trend for the past few years, at the 7th Summit in Thailand, we have agreed to work for a target of US $ 70 billion by 2012.
7. The Framework Agreement for Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, signed in 2005, is at the heart of our economic engagement with ASEAN. The key elements of Framework Agreement on CECA cover FTA in Goods, Services and Investment as well as Economic Cooperation in identified areas. The major component of FTA viz. the Trade-in-Goods (TiG) agreement was signed at the ASEAN-India Economic Ministerial Meeting held on the sidelines of the 41st AEM in Bangkok on August 13, 2009 after six years of intensive negotiations. The TiG agreement has come into force with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Brunei. For other ASEAN countries it would come into force when ratified by them. The next step in the Framework agreement is for conclusion of negotiations on Trade-in-Services and Investment Agreement for which a target date of March, 2011 has been agreed.
Ongoing Co-operation
8. ASEAN-India cooperation covers a wide field, including trade & investment, science & technology, (including IT, biotechnology, advanced materials, space sciences and their applications, etc), tourism, human resource development, transport & infrastructure, and health and pharmaceuticals. Some of the highlights of our cooperation are : -
(i) ASEAN and India have signed a Joint Declaration on Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism in October 2003 in Bali, and in the same year, India acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. The main forum for ASEAN security dialogue is the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). India has been attending annual meetings of this forum since 1996 and has actively participated in its various activities.
(ii) In the field of Pharmaceuticals and Health, during the official level India-ASEAN Working Group (AIWG) Meeting in October, 2008, a concept paper for cooperation in health and pharmaceutical sector was given to the ASEAN side. Similarly, an MOU submitted by Deptt. of AYUSH of India in the field of traditional medicine is also under consideration.
(iii) In the area of Human Resource Development Entrepreneurship Development Centres in Cambodia, LAO PDR, Vietnam and Myanmar have been established. Centres for English Language Training (CELT) have been set-up in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam while one in Indonesia is under process. India has also offered a number of ITEC/ICCR fellowships and training in various sectors.
(iv) Prime Minister has emphasized promotion of Tourism between India and ASEAN countries for realizing greater people to people contact. The Tourism Ministers of ASEAN and India held their second meeting on 25th January, 2010 and agreed to develop an India-ASEAN Tourism Agreement, Promotional chapter for tourism (APCT) and a familiarization trip from India to ASEAN. The MOU on Cooperation in Tourism Sector is under finalization.
(v) In the area of Information and Communication Technology, several activities have been completed in the past few years. TCIL is conducting a feasibility study on introduction of tele-education and tele-medicine in ASEAN countries.
(vi) With regard to People-to-people contacts, media, entertainment and sports, the media exchange programme entitled “ASEAN India Media Exchange Programme” was initiated to facilitate greater interaction and cooperation between ASEAN and India particularly in the area of media and information. Special Course for Diplomats from ASEAN Countries are conducted regularly at the Foreign Service Institute. The last one on 18 August-16 September 2010 where 31 diplomats from ASEAN countries participated in the course.
(vii) Under the agreed programme of Visit of 100 Students to India first batch of 50 student visited India on 10 days familiarization visit from 17-27 November 2008. The second batch of 50 ASEAN students visited India from 22 March to 2nd April 09. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has proposed the date of January, 2011 for the next batch of ASEAN Youth.
(viii) ASEAN Connectivity Initiative: An ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on ASEAN connectivity was issued on 24th October, 2009 at the 15th ASEAN Summit in Hua Hin, Thailand to improve intra-ASEAN connectivity as well as connectivity with its dialogue partners. It called for developing an ASEAN Master Plan on regional connectivity through formation of a High level task force . It also called for completing an ASEAN ICT Master Plan in 2010 to improve connectivity.
We have achieved progress in the key area of connectivity. Today, there are over 215 direct and indirect flights every week between India and Singapore, 115 flights with Thailand and 50 with Malaysia. The work on the Trilateral Highway Project between India, Myanmar and Thailand is also progressing. ASEAN and India have also proposed to build a new highway India-Myanmar-Laos-Cambodia-Vietnam at the India-ASEAN Ministerial meeting held in July, 2010. Under Mekong-Ganga Cooperation programme an agreement has been reached to build Delhi-Hanoi rail link. Under ICT connectivity Optical Fibres have been laid upto Mandalay in Myanmar.
(ix) Open Skies Agreement: In pursuance of PM’s announcement at the 6th ASEAN Summit at Singapore on 21st November 07 on open skies agreement ASEAN proposed ASEAN-India Aviation Cooperation Framework that would lead to an eventual Open Skies Agreement (OSA) between ASEAN and India. A draft Air Services Agreement (ASA) based upon the framework has been considered at these meetings. It has been agreed to continue the negotiations through the Joint Working Group which wis expected to meet early next year.
India-ASEAN Economic Cooperation
9. Some of the ongoing/completed activites are : a. ASEAN-India Cooperation fund: Projects are undertaken through this fund, which is managed by the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. An amount of US $ 11,410,540 has been contributed by India, so far, under this fund. There are more than 40 projects under various stages of execution, some of which are as under: Collaborative R&D & Workshop on Thermally Sprayed Ceramic-based Coatings. Establishment of a Digital S&T Library in ASEAN countries. Human Resource Development in Free and Open Source Software. Establishing VSAT based Tele-Education and Tele-medicine network in CLMV countries Training of ASEAN Diplomats in India Establishment of Centres of English Language Training (CELT) and Enterpreneurship Development Centres (EDC) in CLMV countries. Space cooperation
b. ASEAN Development Fund: An amount of US $1 million was contributed by India to ASEAN Development Fund over a span of three years from 2005-07 to support the Vientianne Action Programme of the ASEAN countries.
c. ASEAN-India S&T fund: A fund with a US$ 1 million contribution from India has been established in India to promote joint collaborative R&D research projects in Science & Technology sectors. The first meeting of the General Council of the Fund was held on June 1, 2010 and approved four proposals for funding from S&T fund.
d. India-ASEAN Green Fund: An India-ASEAN Green Fund is proposed to be established with a corpus of US $ 5 million to promote adaptation and mitigation technologies in the area of Climate change in ASEAN countries. The rules of management of the Fund have been adopted at the 12th JCC Meeting held at Jakarta in May, 2010. The allocation of funds is being processed by the Ministry of Environment.
A deepening relationship
10. The India-ASEAN relationship has acquired maturity. The interest of the ASEAN in India has remained unabated since the former’s welcome of our ‘Look East Policy’. There is mutual recognition that strengthened India-ASEAN relations, which are rooted in deep historical and cultural ties, serve the interests of both India and ASEAN. The mutual desire to move ahead rapidly is also clear. The annual Summits are an unqualified success in building strong ties grounded in an impressive architecture of regional cooperation, for India’s benefit. An India-ASEAN Trade Fair and Business Summit in March, 2011 will be held at New Delhi. The annual dialogue with ASEAN viz. Delhi-dialogue-III would also be conducted at the same time. The ASEAN-India Economic Ministers have already announced the target date of March, 2011 for completion of our negotiations on the Trade in Services and Investment Agreement.
11. The 8th India-ASEAN Summit is scheduled to take place in Hanoi, Vietnam on 30th October, 2010. This would also be the first Summit after coming into force of India-ASEAN Trade-in-Goods Agreement on 1st January, 2010. The leaders will also share their thoughts on a series of events that have been planned in the next year leading to the India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit in 2012. The India-ASEAN Vision 2020 document, taking into account the shift in global economy towards Asia, would also be unveiled at the Commemorative Summit. The discussions while taking stock of the relations would also cover new inititatives and see an exchange of ideas on global and regional issues.
2. India and ASEAN have convergence in their security perspectives. India have vital stakes in peace and stability in the region, including the security of the sea-lanes of the Indian Ocean for smooth flow of raw materials, merchandise and energy supplies. Since 1996, India has been an active participant in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
There has been steady progress in the India-ASEAN relationship since the policy was initiated in 1991. India became sectoral dialogue partners of ASEAN in 1992. In 1996, this was upgraded to full dialogue partnership. Since 2002, we have annual Summits with ASEAN – along with China, Japan and Republic of Korea. These political level interactions are further strengthened through the Senior Officials’ Meetings, as also specialised working groups in the various functional areas.
ASEAN now has a charter which came into force on 15th December, 2008. With the adoption of this charter, is functioning as an organization within and its relationship with the outside world has acquired a new institutional form. In terms of this charter, Sh. Biren Nanda, India’s Ambassador to Indonesia has been appointed as India’s Ambassador/PR to ASEAN in succession to Shri N. Ravi.
Trade and Investment
5. India ASEAN trade statistics (in US$ billion)
6. India-ASEAN trade amounted to US $ 43.90 billion in 2009-10 which saw a slight decline on account of global recession. The value of our exports was US $ 18.11 billion and that of our imports was US $ 25.79 billion. In keeping with the trend for the past few years, at the 7th Summit in Thailand, we have agreed to work for a target of US $ 70 billion by 2012.
7. The Framework Agreement for Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, signed in 2005, is at the heart of our economic engagement with ASEAN. The key elements of Framework Agreement on CECA cover FTA in Goods, Services and Investment as well as Economic Cooperation in identified areas. The major component of FTA viz. the Trade-in-Goods (TiG) agreement was signed at the ASEAN-India Economic Ministerial Meeting held on the sidelines of the 41st AEM in Bangkok on August 13, 2009 after six years of intensive negotiations. The TiG agreement has come into force with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Brunei. For other ASEAN countries it would come into force when ratified by them. The next step in the Framework agreement is for conclusion of negotiations on Trade-in-Services and Investment Agreement for which a target date of March, 2011 has been agreed.
Ongoing Co-operation
8. ASEAN-India cooperation covers a wide field, including trade & investment, science & technology, (including IT, biotechnology, advanced materials, space sciences and their applications, etc), tourism, human resource development, transport & infrastructure, and health and pharmaceuticals. Some of the highlights of our cooperation are : -
(i) ASEAN and India have signed a Joint Declaration on Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism in October 2003 in Bali, and in the same year, India acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. The main forum for ASEAN security dialogue is the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). India has been attending annual meetings of this forum since 1996 and has actively participated in its various activities.
(ii) In the field of Pharmaceuticals and Health, during the official level India-ASEAN Working Group (AIWG) Meeting in October, 2008, a concept paper for cooperation in health and pharmaceutical sector was given to the ASEAN side. Similarly, an MOU submitted by Deptt. of AYUSH of India in the field of traditional medicine is also under consideration.
(iii) In the area of Human Resource Development Entrepreneurship Development Centres in Cambodia, LAO PDR, Vietnam and Myanmar have been established. Centres for English Language Training (CELT) have been set-up in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam while one in Indonesia is under process. India has also offered a number of ITEC/ICCR fellowships and training in various sectors.
(iv) Prime Minister has emphasized promotion of Tourism between India and ASEAN countries for realizing greater people to people contact. The Tourism Ministers of ASEAN and India held their second meeting on 25th January, 2010 and agreed to develop an India-ASEAN Tourism Agreement, Promotional chapter for tourism (APCT) and a familiarization trip from India to ASEAN. The MOU on Cooperation in Tourism Sector is under finalization.
(v) In the area of Information and Communication Technology, several activities have been completed in the past few years. TCIL is conducting a feasibility study on introduction of tele-education and tele-medicine in ASEAN countries.
(vi) With regard to People-to-people contacts, media, entertainment and sports, the media exchange programme entitled “ASEAN India Media Exchange Programme” was initiated to facilitate greater interaction and cooperation between ASEAN and India particularly in the area of media and information. Special Course for Diplomats from ASEAN Countries are conducted regularly at the Foreign Service Institute. The last one on 18 August-16 September 2010 where 31 diplomats from ASEAN countries participated in the course.
(vii) Under the agreed programme of Visit of 100 Students to India first batch of 50 student visited India on 10 days familiarization visit from 17-27 November 2008. The second batch of 50 ASEAN students visited India from 22 March to 2nd April 09. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has proposed the date of January, 2011 for the next batch of ASEAN Youth.
(viii) ASEAN Connectivity Initiative: An ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on ASEAN connectivity was issued on 24th October, 2009 at the 15th ASEAN Summit in Hua Hin, Thailand to improve intra-ASEAN connectivity as well as connectivity with its dialogue partners. It called for developing an ASEAN Master Plan on regional connectivity through formation of a High level task force . It also called for completing an ASEAN ICT Master Plan in 2010 to improve connectivity.
We have achieved progress in the key area of connectivity. Today, there are over 215 direct and indirect flights every week between India and Singapore, 115 flights with Thailand and 50 with Malaysia. The work on the Trilateral Highway Project between India, Myanmar and Thailand is also progressing. ASEAN and India have also proposed to build a new highway India-Myanmar-Laos-Cambodia-Vietnam at the India-ASEAN Ministerial meeting held in July, 2010. Under Mekong-Ganga Cooperation programme an agreement has been reached to build Delhi-Hanoi rail link. Under ICT connectivity Optical Fibres have been laid upto Mandalay in Myanmar.
(ix) Open Skies Agreement: In pursuance of PM’s announcement at the 6th ASEAN Summit at Singapore on 21st November 07 on open skies agreement ASEAN proposed ASEAN-India Aviation Cooperation Framework that would lead to an eventual Open Skies Agreement (OSA) between ASEAN and India. A draft Air Services Agreement (ASA) based upon the framework has been considered at these meetings. It has been agreed to continue the negotiations through the Joint Working Group which wis expected to meet early next year.
India-ASEAN Economic Cooperation
9. Some of the ongoing/completed activites are : a. ASEAN-India Cooperation fund: Projects are undertaken through this fund, which is managed by the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. An amount of US $ 11,410,540 has been contributed by India, so far, under this fund. There are more than 40 projects under various stages of execution, some of which are as under: Collaborative R&D & Workshop on Thermally Sprayed Ceramic-based Coatings. Establishment of a Digital S&T Library in ASEAN countries. Human Resource Development in Free and Open Source Software. Establishing VSAT based Tele-Education and Tele-medicine network in CLMV countries Training of ASEAN Diplomats in India Establishment of Centres of English Language Training (CELT) and Enterpreneurship Development Centres (EDC) in CLMV countries. Space cooperation
b. ASEAN Development Fund: An amount of US $1 million was contributed by India to ASEAN Development Fund over a span of three years from 2005-07 to support the Vientianne Action Programme of the ASEAN countries.
c. ASEAN-India S&T fund: A fund with a US$ 1 million contribution from India has been established in India to promote joint collaborative R&D research projects in Science & Technology sectors. The first meeting of the General Council of the Fund was held on June 1, 2010 and approved four proposals for funding from S&T fund.
d. India-ASEAN Green Fund: An India-ASEAN Green Fund is proposed to be established with a corpus of US $ 5 million to promote adaptation and mitigation technologies in the area of Climate change in ASEAN countries. The rules of management of the Fund have been adopted at the 12th JCC Meeting held at Jakarta in May, 2010. The allocation of funds is being processed by the Ministry of Environment.
A deepening relationship
10. The India-ASEAN relationship has acquired maturity. The interest of the ASEAN in India has remained unabated since the former’s welcome of our ‘Look East Policy’. There is mutual recognition that strengthened India-ASEAN relations, which are rooted in deep historical and cultural ties, serve the interests of both India and ASEAN. The mutual desire to move ahead rapidly is also clear. The annual Summits are an unqualified success in building strong ties grounded in an impressive architecture of regional cooperation, for India’s benefit. An India-ASEAN Trade Fair and Business Summit in March, 2011 will be held at New Delhi. The annual dialogue with ASEAN viz. Delhi-dialogue-III would also be conducted at the same time. The ASEAN-India Economic Ministers have already announced the target date of March, 2011 for completion of our negotiations on the Trade in Services and Investment Agreement.
11. The 8th India-ASEAN Summit is scheduled to take place in Hanoi, Vietnam on 30th October, 2010. This would also be the first Summit after coming into force of India-ASEAN Trade-in-Goods Agreement on 1st January, 2010. The leaders will also share their thoughts on a series of events that have been planned in the next year leading to the India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit in 2012. The India-ASEAN Vision 2020 document, taking into account the shift in global economy towards Asia, would also be unveiled at the Commemorative Summit. The discussions while taking stock of the relations would also cover new inititatives and see an exchange of ideas on global and regional issues.
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