- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (28) said the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic had posed a number of challenges to the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and tested India’s bond with the bloc but mutual cooperation will keep strengthening their relations in the future and form a base for goodwill between people.
Modi, who was addressing the 18th ASEAN-India Summit via video-conferencing, said, “Due to COVID-19, all of us had to face a lot of challenges, this challenging time was also a test of the India-ASEAN friendship. Our mutual cooperation in the COVID era will keep strengthening our relations in future and form a base for goodwill between our people.”
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The prime minister also in his speech focused on the historical ties between India and the ASEAN, their shared values, languages, culture, architecture, food, among others.
Attended the 18th ASEAN-India Summit today. Exchanged views with ASEAN partners on regional and global issues. India values its Strategic Partnership with ASEAN. To commemorate 30 years of ASEAN-India Partnership, we decided to celebrate 2022 as 'India-ASEAN Friendship Year'.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 28, 2021
Addressing the India-ASEAN Summit. https://t.co/OaQazNtC2A
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 28, 2021
“History is witness that India and ASEAN have had vibrant relations for thousands of years. Their glimpses show our shared values, traditions, languages, texts, architecture, culture, food and drink. And that is why the unity and centrality of ASEAN have always been an important priority for India,” Modi said.
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The prime minister, who was invited to the summit by the Sultan of Brunei, one of the member-states of the bloc, said an important milestone will be celebrated as ‘ASEAN-India Friendship Year’ next year on the occasion of the 30 years of India’s friendship with ASEAN and the 75th year of its independence.
“The year 2022 will mark the completion of 30 years of our partnership. India will also complete 75 years of its independence. I am very glad that we will celebrate this important milestone as ‘ASEAN-India Friendship Year’,” Modi said.
India’s relationship with ASEAN evolved from its ‘Look East Policy’ enunciated in the early 1990s, which led New Delhi to become a sectoral partner of the South-East Asian bloc in 1992, a dialogue partner in 1996 and a summit-level partner in 2002.
ASEAN-India summits are held annually to provide opportunity to both sides to engage at the highest level. Modi attended the 17th summit which was held virtually last November.
India and ASEAN have several dialogue mechanisms that meet regularly, including a summit, ministerial meetings and senior officials’ meeting.
