Unveiling the vision of a resurgent and integrated Asia, India and the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) declared the conclusion of negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in services and investments and upgraded their ties to a strategic partnership that includes closer cooperation in political, economic and security areas.
India’s Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh held wide-ranging talks with leaders of ASEAN at their Commemorative Summit in New Delhi on December 20, 2012.
The talks included intensification of trade and investments, closer security cooperation and enhanced physical and cultural connectivity.
“We declare that the ASEAN-India partnership stands elevated to a strategic partnership,” the Vision Document said.
Leaders of India and ASEAN countries unanimously accepted the Document at the end of the plenary session of the Summit.
The leaders agreed to work towards “the full, effective and timely implementation of the ASEAN-India dialogue relations across the whole spectrum of political and security, economic, social and development cooperation.”
Great flux
Placing the strategic partnership in context, Dr Singh said, “This is a time of great flux and transition, with several unsettled questions and unresolved issues in our region. Our responsibility to work for peace has increased and become more urgent.
“Our shared values, convergent world views and similarities in approaches to the region should help us make the India-ASEAN relationship more comprehensive and elevate it to a Strategic Partnership for the next decade and beyond.”
The focus was on scaling economic ties to new heights, with the leaders airing their collective confidence to achieve US$100 billion bilateral trade by 2015.
Currently, trade between India and ASEAN is about US$80 billion.
Negotiations complete
The showpiece of the Summit was the formal declaration of the successful conclusion of negotiations on FTA in services and investments.
Dr Singh said that the pact represented a valuable milestone in the India- ASEAN relationship and that it would boost economic ties.
“We should intensify our political and security consultations, including in regional forums such as the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus.
“We should work together more purposefully for the evolution of an open, balanced, inclusive and transparent regional architecture,” he said.
According to Dr Singh, the growing role and responsibilities of ASEAN and India in global affairs called for increased consultation on a broader range of international developments.
Strategic cast
The leaders also decided to give a strategic cast to their burgeoning trade and investment by agreeing on closer consultations in crafting regional economic architecture and organising multi-sector economic dialogues.
The two sides also decided to boost private sector investment and public-private partnership linkages.
The Vision Document focused on spurring connectivity in the region through closer rail, road and air links.
India and ASEAN pledged to complete the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway by 2016 and its extension to Lao and Cambodia.
