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India to host key meeting of Asean foreign ministers today
This is the first time India is hosting such a special meeting with foreign ministers of the Asean to mark the 30th anniversary of relations with the 10-member grouping.
India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) states will have an opportunity to review cooperation in key areas such as trade and security, and implementation of the action plan for 2021-25 when external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan co-chair a special meeting on Thursday.
This is the first time India is hosting such a special meeting with foreign ministers of the Asean to mark the 30th anniversary of relations with the 10-member grouping. People familiar with the matter said that in addition to celebrating the work done in the past three decades, the meeting will be an opportunity to frame long-term plans for the future.
Ahead of the meeting of the foreign ministers, secretary (East) in the external affairs ministry, Saurabh Kumar, co-chaired the Asean-India senior officials’ meeting with Singapore’s permanent secretary Albert Chua in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Myanmar was represented at Wednesday’s meeting by its ambassador, Moe Kyaw Aung. In keeping with the “Asean consensus” on non-political representation for Myanmar following last year’s military coup, the country is expected to be represented by a senior official at the two-day meeting of the foreign ministers.
The senior officials reviewed the Asean-India strategic partnership and its future direction. They also assessed progress in cooperation under the three pillars of the partnership – political-security, economic and socio-cultural. The officials discussed steps for further implementation of the India-Asean plan of action for 2021-25.
The two sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest, including the Covid-19 crisis and post-pandemic recovery.
Kumar emphasised the centrality of Asean in India’s vision of the Indo-Pacific and implementation of the India-Asean joint statement on cooperation on the Asean Outlook for the Indo-Pacific in order to strengthen the strategic partnership. The Southeast Asian nations appreciated India’s support for the Asean-led architecture in the region.
The people cited above said the special meeting of the foreign ministers will also be an occasion for India and Asean to assess the fallout of the Ukraine conflict, especially on food and energy security, and how to manage the impact on their economies.
Though the positions of India and the Asean states — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — are largely similar on political, security and economic issues, the Southeast Asian nations were upset by India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement in November 2019.
“We regret this decision but we also understand the merits of the decision made by India,” a senior diplomat from an Asean state said. The diplomat said Asean states also welcomed India’s efforts to boost trade and connectivity through regional groupings such as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec).
