• Jaideep Mazumdar, Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs co-chaired the 27th ASEAN-India Senior Officials’ Meeting (AISOM) in Manila on March 12. 

• Philippines is the Country Coordinator for ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations. 

• AISOM is an annual meeting that reviews and discusses ASEAN-India relations under the three pillars of ASEAN, as well as the future direction of ASEAN-India relations.

• The meeting was attended by senior officials and representatives of all ASEAN Member States and Timor Leste which holds Observer Status in ASEAN.

• The 27th AISOM reviewed the status of implementation of decisions of the ASEAN-India Summit/ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (PMC+1) across the three pillars of engagement — political-security, economic and socio-cultural.

• The senior officials appreciated progress in the implementation of 10 Point Proposal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the 21st ASEAN-India Summit in Lao PDR in 2024 to further strengthen the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership including to designate the year 2025 as the ASEAN-India Year of Tourism.

• Key issues of discussion included tourism cooperation, early completion of review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), digital, maritime, connectivity, health, innovation and development partnerships. Views on regional and global issues of mutual interest were also exchanged.

• Preparations for the ASEAN-India Summit and ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to be held later this year in Malaysia were also discussed.

What is ASEAN?

• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok by five countries —  Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

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

• In November 2022, ASEAN announced that it has agreed in principle to admit East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, as the group’s 11th member. The half-island nation was granted observer status at high-level ASEAN meetings.

• The ASEAN Summit is the highest policy-making body in ASEAN comprising the heads of State or government of ASEAN member states. As per regular practice, the ASEAN Summit Meetings shall be held twice annually. 

• The first ASEAN Summit was held in Bali, Indonesia on February 23-24, 1976.

• ASEAN is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region. India and several other countries, including the US, China, Japan and Australia, are its dialogue partners.

India-ASEAN relations

• ASEAN centrality has been, and will remain, an important aspect of India’s ‘Act East’ policy which is a central element in the country’s foreign policy.

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

• At the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit held in December 2012 in New Delhi, the leaders adopted the ASEAN-India Vision Statement and declared that the ASEAN-India Partnership stands elevated to a ‘Strategic Partnership’. 

• In 2022, ASEAN-India relations were elevated to ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’, that is meaningful, substantive and mutually beneficial.

• India’s bilateral trade with ASEAN economies is expected to reach $300 billion by 2025, and it is the fifth largest trading partner for India following North America, EU, North-East Asia and GCC-West Asia.

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