India’s outreach with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will begin with celebrations of the commemorative summit on Thursday. The commemorative summit is an event that was hosted by India first in 2012 to mark 20th anniversary celebrations of the day it initiated dialogue relations with ASEAN.
The summit will begin after the arrival of the heads of states of all ASEAN nations, namely Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Several ministers and leaders of delegations of these countries had already arrived in India to conclude discussions over the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement that aims to improve trade relations between all ASEAN nations, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The event is going to begin with bilateral meetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with heads of ASEAN states, followed by a Presidential luncheon, a plenary session, and official seminars. They will also attend Republic Day celebrations at Rajpath on 26th January.
India has always accorded great importance to ASEAN countries, who have also returned the favour in equal measure by looking at India as an alternative to China’s economic prowess. These ten nations provide great support to India in terms of trade engagements and international backing in its emergence as a rising Asian superpower.