Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India-ASEAN friendship was very important at a time when parts of the world were facing conflicts and tensions.
Addressing the 21st India-ASEAN Summit, PM Modi also said he had announced the Act East Policy 10 years ago and in the past decade it had given new energy, direction and momentum to the historic ties between India and ASEAN nations.
“In the past decade, India-ASEAN trade has doubled and now stands at more than USD 130 billion,” he said.
The Prime Minister said he believed that the 21st century, also called the Asian century, is the century of India and ASEAN nations.
“India-ASEAN friendship, coordination dialogue and cooperation is very important at a time when several parts of the world are facing conflicts and tensions,” he said.
Announcing a 10-point plan to strengthen ASEAN-India comprehensive partnership, PM Modi focused on celebrating the year 2025 as “ASEAN-India Year of Tourism” for which India would make available $5 million towards joint activities.
“To celebrate a decade of Act East Policy through several people centric activities including Youth Summit, Start-up Festival, Hackathon, Music Festival, ASEAN-India Network of Think Tanks and Delhi Dialogue,” he said.
He gave a third plan, “To organise ASEAN-India Women Scientists Conclave under ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund.”
The Prime Minister mentioned the doubling the number of scholarships at Nalanda University and provision of new scholarships for ASEAN students at Agricultural Universities in India.
To strengthen ASEAN-India partnership, Modi said, “Review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement by 2025.”
Enhancing Disaster Resilience for which India would make available $5 million, he said, would strengthen partnership further. He asked to initiate a new Health Ministers’ track towards building Health Resilience.
He also asked to initiate a regular mechanism of ASEAN-India Cyber Policy Dialogue towards strengthening Digital and Cyber Resilience.
In his 10-point plan, PM Modi suggested a workshop on Green Hydrogen in order to strengthen ASEAN-India comprehensive partnership.
“Invited ASEAN Leaders to join ‘Plant a Tree for Mother’ campaign towards building climate resilience,” PM Modi suggested.
“The India-ASEAN Summit was a productive one. We discussed how to further strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and ASEAN. We look forward to deepening trade ties, cultural linkages and cooperation in technology, connectivity and other such sectors,” PM Modi said in a post on X.
Modi arrived here in Laos on a two-day visit to attend the ASEAN-India and East Asia summits and further deepen engagement with countries in the groupings.