ASEAN-India Business Council virtual meet

Strategic partnership between India and ASEAN countries will be guided by 3Cs - Cooperation, Collaboration and Commitment, said Shri Piyush Goyal Commerce and Industry Minister. He also stressed how India delivered during the pandemic and can be considered as a trusted partner to the world.

India delivered during pandemic

    • To fight Covid-19, India acted as the Pharmacy for the world supplying medicines to over 150 countries of the world, to every part of the world, particularly to the less developed nations.

    • India developed adequate capacity to manufacture PPE, masks, and ramped up our testing capabilities from under 1000 per day to about a million a day.

    • The people developed commitment and consciousness to maintain social distancing, to adequately take care of personal hygiene, wear a mask at all times and care for near ones, a new high into the social development.

    • Clarion call of Aatamnirbhar Bharat by the PM Narendra Modi, has boosted the industry and entrepreneurs to walk with strength and confidence.

    • India is committed to achieve a target of $300 billion trade with ASEAN countries.

About ASEAN

    • The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (more commonly known as ASEAN) is a regional intergovernmental organisation aimed primarily at promoting intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, military, educational and cultural integration amongst its members and Asian states.

    • ASEAN was formed in 1967 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration and initially consisted of five members: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

    • Currently 10 member states: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam.

    • Two countries have been given as observer status: Papua New Guinea & East Timor.

    • Its motto states "One vision, one identity, one community".

    • Headquarters is in Jakarta. 

Importance of ASEAN

    • ASEAN covers a land area of 4.4 million square kilometres, 3% of the total land area of Earth.

    • ASEAN territorial waters cover an area about three times larger than its land counterpart, making it particularly important in terms of sea lanes and fisheries.

    • Member countries have a combined population of approximately 640 million people, 8.8% of the world's population.

    • If ASEAN were a single entity, it would rank as the sixth largest economy in the world, behind the USA, China, Japan, France and Germany.

    • Currently ASEAN commands far greater influence on Asia-Pacific trade, political, and security issues than its members could achieve individually. This has driven ASEAN’s community building efforts. This work is based largely on consultation, consensus, and cooperation.

    • Common market, ASEAN free trade area(AFTA), has created a competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development, and a region that is fully integrated into the global economy.

    • ASEAN is so successful as a regional grouping that its 'ASEAN Way' is quoted as a methodology or approach to solving issues that is informal and personal. Policymakers constantly utilize compromise, consensus, and consultation in the informal decision-making process.

Indo-ASEAN relations

    • ASEAN-India dialogue relations have grown rapidly from a sectoral dialogue partnership in 1992 to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995, then elevated further with the convening of the  ASEAN-India Summit in 2002 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 

    • ASEAN-India Summit has been held every year since 2002.

    • Since India became a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN, the collaboration has transcended the realm of functional cooperation to cover political and security dimensions. 

    • At the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations held on 25th January 2018, the Leaders adopted Delhi Declaration which charts out the future direction of ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership.

    • The volume of trade and investment flows between ASEAN and India was relatively low in the initial phase of the ASEAN-India dialogue partnership. The total two-way trade experienced negative growth by 4.8 per cent from US$80.94 billion in 2018 to US$77.05 billion in 2019. Meanwhile, foreign direct investments (FDI) flow from India to ASEAN increased by 98 per cent from US$1.02 billion in 2018 to US$2.02 billion in 2019.

    • With the establishment of an ASEAN-India Free Trade Area (FTA) in 2009, it paved the way for the creation of one of the world’s largest free trade areas with more than 2 billion people and a combined GDP of US$ 5.51 trillion. The ASEAN India FTA saw tariff liberalisation of over 90% of products traded between the two dynamic regions and tariffs on over 4,000 product lines eliminated by 2016. 

    • Beyond economic cooperation, the engagement is on multiple levels such as security,  private sector engagement, aviation & regional transportation, tourism, agriculture & forestry, socio-cultural cooperation, information and communication technology etc.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)