Themes

The year 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations, and its progression into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. India initially came on board as a Sectoral Dialogue Partner in 1992, then gained Dialogue Partner status three years later. It began participating in ASEAN Summits in 2002, became a Strategic Partner in 2012, and in 2015, it formally set up a Mission to ASEAN to deepen its engagement with ASEAN.

ASEAN and India are fast-rising hotspots for digital start-ups. This was evident in the first ASEAN-India Start-up Festival 2022, held on 27-30 October 2022 at the Innovation Convention Center in Cibinong, Indonesia.

Art is a powerful tool that brings people together and imbibes the socio-cultural practices of the time. The ASEAN-India Artists’ Camp 2022 was one such project. It recognised the power of art in fostering intercultural people-to-people exchanges to promote mutual understanding and tolerance.

ASEAN and India marked the anniversary of their partnership by holding several commemorative events throughout 2022. Some of these are high-level meetings, such as the Special Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the Delhi Dialogue on 15-17 June 2022, the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus and ASEAN-India Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting on 22-23 November 2022, and the ASEAN InterParliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Delegation’s visit to India on 10-14 August 2022.

It gives me great pleasure to write this message, representing India as ASEAN’s Comprehensive Strategic Partner. Since 1992, 30 years down the lane, the ASEAN has become the heart of the Indo-Pacific. No other region probably is as much discussed, constructively, as Indo-Pacific these days, not only from the geo-political perspectives but also from the perspective of the prime mover of the economic growth for the world.

As ASEAN commemorates 30 years of diplomatic relations with India this year, I am happy to note that our relations continue to deepen at every level. The ASEAN-India partnership has not only led to greater ASEAN regional and global engagement, but also the fostering of regional peace, stability and prosperity. This was reaffirmed at the 19th ASEAN-India Summit in November this year, which declared the establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that will strengthen more multifaceted collaboration for both sides.