PrintFriendlyASEAN-India relations have grown from strength to strength, with rising trade and investment flows, friend-shoring, and people-to-people contacts. India’s relationship with ASEAN has evolved from that of a Sectoral Partner in 1992 to a Dialogue Partner in 1996, and a Summit-level Partner in 2002. In 2012, the relationship was upgraded to a Strategic Partnership and then to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership level in 2022. India-ASEAN ties are critical to guiding Asia’s future. Started in 2002 in Cambodia during PM Vajpayee tenure, today the ASEAN-India annual summit process has entered into the third decade of partnership.
The 44th ASEAN Summit and the 21st ASEAN-India summit took place in Vientiane on 10 and 11 October 2024. This year’s ASEAN-India Summit is of special significance since India is commemorating the ten years of the Act East Policy (AEP). The AEP was introduced in 2014 by PM Modi. This was Prime Minister’s 11th participation in the Summit.
The world is passing through uncertainties and countries are looking for resilient solutions. The theme of this year’s ASEAN summit was “ASEAN: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience”. Since 2002, India has not missed a single ASEAN-India summit. PM Modi attended the several key summits, including the East Asia Summit and the 21st India-ASEAN Summit on 10 and 11 October 2024. The PM’s presence underscores the continuity of India’s proactive engagement with ASEAN and the East Asia Summit (EAS). Marking a decade of AEP, PM Modi and ASEAN leaders reviewed the progress of ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and presented the future direction of cooperation.
ASEAN-India Regional Engagements
ASEAN and India share both land and maritime borders. They are civilizational partners. ASEAN and India together share 7 per cent of the world GDP and 26 per cent of the world population. Their combined strength is, therefore, phenomenal. ASEAN is currently India’s 4th largest trading partner, and India is ASEAN’s 7th largest trade partner. ASEAN has truly become a global economy, where FTAs have been playing a key role in the integration.
ASEAN-India relations have been elevated to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) level. Both have agreed to establish the ASEAN-India CSP that is meaningful, substantive, and mutually beneficial.
After Prime Minister Modi was sworn in for the third term in June 2024, he went to Brunei and Singapore. Heads of States of Vietnam and Malaysia visited India in between. The External Affairs Minister (EAM) and minister of states also visited several ASEAN member states in the last one year from September 2023. Prime Minister Modi also inaugurated the campus of Nalanda University – rebuilt in partnership with several Southeast and East Asian countries. The Indian Defence Minister attended the 10th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in November 2023. The ASEAN Secretary General visited India in February 2024. The 24th ASEAN-India Joint Cooperation Committee (AIJCC) Meeting was held in March 2024. In May 2024, the 26th ASEAN-India Senior Officials’ Meeting (AISOM) took place. India EAM attended the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the PMC+1 Meeting in July 2024. Indian Commerce and Industry Minister co-chaired the 21st ASEAN-India Economic Ministers in September 2024. It has been a very hectic engagement between ASEAN and India since September 2023 despite general elections in India and Indonesia – two largest economies of the region.
ASEAN and India have been witnessing the best phase of their relations post-pandemic. The bilateral trade between them was just US$ 9 when they had the 1st summit way back in 2002, and now the trade is likely to cross the US$ 150 billion mark by the turn of 2024. India and some of the ASEAN member states such as Malaysia have agreed to trade in local currency. More ASEAN member states are likely to follow suit. The GVC networks between India and ASEAN have grown in last one decade along with the rising gross cumulative investment flows between them, which has exceeded US$ 125 billion during 2000-2023. ASEAN and India have started reviewing the AITIGA and they had a couple of rounds of negotiations in recent past including completion of a joint study.
To boost India-ASEAN economic relations, e PM Modi announced the 12-point agenda at Jakarta in 2023. The 12-point agenda covers a wide set of areas crucial for economic engagement, thus reflecting India’s high commitment to ASEAN-India relations.
Out of the 12-point proposal, digital cooperation has witnessed some progress. The real-time, cross-border linking of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Singapore’s PayNow has been implemented in 2023 and both sides are planning to expand the operation. ASEAN has shown interests in India’s UPI and so also India to ASEAN’s fast payment systems (FPSs). In June 2024, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officially joined “Project Nexus”, marking a milestone in India’s integration with ASEAN’s financial infrastructure.
In October 2024, PM Modi has announced 10-point plan which includes: i) Celebrating the year 2025 as ASEAN-India Year of Tourism for which India would make available USD 5 million towards joint activities; ii) To celebrate a decade of Act East Policy through several people centric activities including Youth Summit, Start-up Festival, Hackathon, Music Festival, ASEAN-India Network of Think Tanks and Delhi Dialogue; iii) To organise ASEAN-India Women Scientists Conclave under ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund; iv) Doubling the number of scholarships at Nalanda University and provision of new scholarships for ASEAN students at Agricultural Universities in India; v) Review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement by 2025; vi) Enhancing Disaster Resilience for which India would make available USD 5 million; vii) Initiate a new Health Ministers’ track towards building Health Resilience; viii) Initiate a regular mechanism of ASEAN-India Cyber Policy Dialogue towards strengthening Digital and Cyber Resilience; ix) Workshop on Green Hydrogen; and x) Invited ASEAN Leaders to join ‘Plant a Tree for Mother’ campaign towards building climate resilience.
In the last ASEAN-India summit, leaders agreed to create a new ASEAN-India Plan of Action (2026-2030) that will guide both sides in realizing the full potential of the ASEAN-India partnership and adopted two Joint Statements: i) Joint Statement on Strengthening ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace, Stability and Prosperity in the Region in the context of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) with the Support of India’s Act East Policy (AEP) – Leaders recognized the contribution of India’s Act East Policy in advancing the partnership between ASEAN and India; and ii) ASEAN-India Joint Statement on Advancing Digital Transformation. Leaders appreciated India’s leadership in the field of digital transformation and welcomed partnership with India in digital public infrastructure.
What follows is that the last twenty summits present India’s energetic engagements with ASEAN, which have transformed the relationship into the realm of Indo-Pacific. India and ASEAN advocate a free, open, rules-based and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, and call for peaceful resolution of disputes while respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations. Both sides have agreed to continue to work on shared interests and aspirations in ensuring regional peace, security, and stability.
Way Ahead
ASEAN-India relations have been getting melted into Indo-Pacific partnership. ASEAN and India have mutually agreed to collaborate on the Indo-Pacific. AOIP’s convergence with the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) provides a strong basis for the next phase of ASEAN-India cooperation. There are several common areas of cooperation between ASEAN’s AOIP and India’s IPOI.
Today, digital cooperation is the best part of ASEAN-India economic engagements and it will continue to add further momentum. Cross-border e-commerce and Fintech innovations are key sectors where MSMEs are expected to thrive. There are ample opportunities to collaborate.
ASEAN and India should also work together to forge green infrastructure and resilient supply chains, explore cooperation on the Single Window platform to enhance trade facilitation and integration and promote the development of MSMEs and start-ups. The areas that offer high prospects are pharmaceuticals, health, cyber, financial, and maritime security domains. The coming summit may show some lights in this front.
Concluding the negotiation of the AITIGA review may take time but ASEAN and India may intensify their efforts to achieve a substantial conclusion even before the new deadline of 2025. The ASEAN chairmanship has come to Malaysia. India-ASEAN relation is expected to gain new scale under the chairmanship of Malaysia in 2025. Today, global uncertainties are looming large. ASEAN and India may further intensify their cooperation to stabilise the global order.
Author
(The views expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the organisation)
