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Prime Minister’s Statement at the 7th
India-ASEAN Summit
24/10/2009
Your Excellency, Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva,
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
Your Excellency, the Heads of State and Government of the member
countries of ASEAN
I thank the Prime Minister of Thailand His Excellency Mr. Abhisit
Vejjajiva for hosting the 7th India-ASEAN Summit in this beautiful city
of Hua Hin. We are grateful to the Government and people of Thailand for
the excellent arrangements that have been made, and for their warm
hospitality.
I thank Indonesia for serving as the Coordinator for India and welcome
Cambodia as the next Coordinator, and assure them of our full support.
I also take this opportunity to extend our deepest condolences over the
tragic loss of life and destruction during the recent natural calamities
in Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam.
The ASEAN region is synonymous with dynamic economic growth. The
adoption of the ASEAN Charter in December 2008 is a manifestation of the
growing profile of ASEAN in world affairs. We warmly welcome this
important development.
Ladies and Gentlemen”
India’s engagement with the ASEAN is at the heart of our ‘Look East’
Policy. We are convinced that India’s future and our economic interests
are best served by greater integration with our Asian partners.
The conclusion of the India-ASEAN Trade-in-Goods Agreement in August
2009 is a major first step in our objective of creating an India-ASEAN
Regional Trade and Investment Area. The journey was not easy, but we
have succeeded in overcoming several difficulties, and this gives us
hope for the future.
India-ASEAN trade has grown at a healthy rate despite the recent global
economic downturn. The volume of trade stood at US$ 48 billion in 2008.
Despite the economic downturn, I am confident that we can achieve our
bilateral trade target of US$ 50 billion by 2010. With the conclusion of
the Trade-in-Goods Agreement, we should aim for an even higher target
for our trade turnover.
We attach high importance to the early conclusion of negotiations on the
Trade-in-Services and Investment Agreement, and we should direct our
officials accordingly.
I am happy to note that there has been good progress on all other
initiatives that have been taken by us, including those discussed at the
last Summit in Singapore in 2007. These include the creation of an
India-ASEAN Science and Technology Fund, the India-ASEAN Health Care
Initiative, cooperation in traditional medicines, the India-ASEAN
Network on Climate Change and the establishment of a Green Fund. Several
programmes to promote people-to-people contacts are also being
implemented.
We look forward to working closely with the ASEAN and other countries of
the East Asia Summit process to establish the Nalanda University as an
international institution of excellence in education with a continental
focus.
In keeping with the theme of the ASEAN Summit of “Enhancing
Connectivity, Empowering Peoples”, I would propose the following
initiatives to further strengthen the links between us:-
• Establishment of an India-ASEAN Round Table comprising think tanks,
policy makers, scholars, media and business representatives to bridge
the knowledge gap. The Round Table would provide policy inputs to the
governments of India and the ASEAN countries on future areas of
cooperation.
• Intensification of negotiations on an open skies policy, further
simplification of the visa regime to encourage business and tourist
travel, a much larger number of youth exchange programmes, and
commencement of exchanges of Parliamentarians between India and the
ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.
• Holding an ASEAN Trade and Industrial Exhibition in India in October
2010 or January 2011.
• Enhanced cooperation in the agriculture sector with a view to meeting
the challenges of food security. The forthcoming meeting of our
Agriculture Ministries in 2010 in India should identify specific areas
of cooperation, including in extension services.
• Cooperation in the application of space technologies. We would be
ready to share satellite data for management of natural disasters,
launch small satellites and scientific instruments and payloads for
experiments in remote sensing and communication for space agencies and
academic institutions in ASEAN countries.
India has been privileged to be a partner in the “Initiative for ASEAN
Integration” Programme. We have been involved in projects for skills
upgradation such as Entrepreneurship Development Centres and Centres for
English Language Learning in Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao Peoples Democratic
Republic and Vietnam. We would be happy to increase the number of such
Centres.
In addition, India would be happy to participate in projects under the
ASEAN’s Work Plan for 2009-2015 in areas such as education, energy,
agriculture and forestry, and small and medium enterprises.
The ASEAN also has plans to develop an ASEAN ICT Master Plan for the
period 2010-2015. India would be happy to offer its services for the
realisation of this Plan, and to assist in the creation of an e-network
in ASEAN which could ultimately be linked up with select Indian
institutions in diverse areas.
To support all these initiatives, we are ready to allocate upto 50
million US dollars during the period of the ASEAN Work Plan under the
ASEAN-India Cooperation Fund and the ASEAN Development Fund.
In 2012, we will be commemorating the 10th anniversary of India’s
participation as a summit level partner of ASEAN, and 20 years as a
sectoral dialogue partner. These are significant milestones, and deserve
careful preparation.
We could jointly consider organising a commemorative ship expedition in
2011-12 on the sea routes developed during the 10th to 12th centuries
linking India with South East Asia and East Asia. The sea route could
cover modern and ancient ports in ASEAN countries, and other East Asian
countries.
India would be privileged to host the India-ASEAN Summit meeting in 2012
in India. To ensure a substantive outcome, I would further propose that
we set up a Joint Task Force to prepare a Vision Statement for
India-ASEAN relations upto the year 2020.
This should take into account the growing strengths of both the ASEAN
countries and India and how we can jointly harness our complementarities
and contribute to a more peaceful and prosperous Asia.
Given the steadily expanding range of our cooperation it is important
that we put in place effective monitoring and follow-up mechanisms to
ensure the effective implementation of the decisions that we take.
Our engagement with the ASEAN countries is a key element of India’s
vision of an Asian economic community that is based on an open and
inclusive architecture. India wishes to partner ASEAN in realizing this
vision on the basis of mutual benefit, mutual prosperity and mutual
respect.
Thank you
Hua Hin (Thailand)
October 24, 2009
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