India will host the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on the 16th-17th of this June. Briefing media in New Delhi on Thursday, External Affairs Spokesman Arindam Bagchi said, SAIFMM will be the first meeting hosted by India in New Delhi and it will be accompanied by 12th edition of Delhi Dialogue.
He said, the theme of the Delhi Dialogue is, Building Bridges in the Indo-Pacific. The Ministerial Session will be attended by External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and ASEAN’s Ministers.
Terming the ASEAN, central to India’s Act East Policy, Bagchi said, ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will mark the 30th Anniversary of dialogue relations and the 10th Anniversary of the strategic partnership with ASEAN. He said, 2022 has been designated as the ASEAN-India friendship year.
On the issue of border dispute with the Chinese side, Bagchi said, India carefully monitors the developments along border areas including construction of infrastructure by the Chinese side.
He said, the government is committed to and takes all appropriate measures to safeguard territorial integrity and sovereignty. He said the government has taken several measures to develop infrastructure in the border areas.
External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar and H.E. Mr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Singapore, India’s Country Coordinator, will co-chair the meeting. Foreign Ministers of other ASEAN Member States and ASEAN Secretary General will participate in the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, a MEA press release reads.
ASEAN-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of sectoral partnership in 1992 which graduated to full dialogue partnership in December 1995, Summit level Partnership in 2002, and Strategic partnership in 2012.
ASEAN is central to India’s Act East Policy and its vision for the wider Indo-Pacific. This multi-faceted partnership encompasses many sectoral dialogue mechanisms and working groups that meet regularly at various levels and include annual Summit, Ministerial and Senior Officials’ meetings. The ongoing India-ASEAN collaboration is guided by the Plan of Action 2021-2025 which was adopted in 2020.
What does ASEAN mean?
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam then joined on 7 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN.