Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) & India

The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) comprises of the following 10 (ten) countries

• Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, 
• Singapore, Philippines, Brunei, 
• Cambodia, Lao PDR, 
• Myanmar and Vietnam

Post 1990, due to liberalization of the Indian Economy, India started to look for avenues required for its increasing economic space which resulted in her "Look East Policy".

• Look East Policy was launched in 1991. 
• India's Look East policy represents its efforts to cultivate extensive economic and strategic relations with the nations of Southeast Asia in order to bolster its standing as a regional power.
• India has developed multilateral organisations such as the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), forging extensive cooperation on environmental, economic development, security and strategic affairs, permitting the growth of influence beyond South Asia.

The Look East Policy has today matured into a dynamic and action oriented ‘Act East Policy. 

• PM at the 12th ASEAN India Summit and the 9th East Asia Summit held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, in November, 2014, formally enunciated the Act East Policy.
• The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian regions. 
• Membership expanded to 18 countries including the United States and Russia at the Sixth EAS in 2011. 
• EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings. The first summit was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 14 December 2005.

ASEAN and India:-

There has been steady progress in the ASEAN-India partnership since the Look East Policy was launched in 1991. 

• India became sectoral dialogue partners in 1992 and full dialogue partners in 1996. 
• Since 2002, India has annual Summits with ASEAN along with China, Japan and Republic of Korea which is known as ASEAN-India Summit.

Investment flows are also substantial both ways, with ASEAN accounting for approximately 12.5% of investment flows into India since 2000. 

• FDI inflows into India from ASEAN between April 2007-March 2015 was about US$ 32.44 billion. 
• Whereas FDI outflows from India to ASEAN countries, from April 2007 to March 2015, as per data maintained by DEA, was about US$ 38.672 billion.

The ASEAN-India Free Trade Area has been completed with the entering into force of the ASEAN-India Agreements on Trade in Service and Investments on 1 July 2015.

ASEAN and India have been also working on enhancing private sector engagement. ASEAN India-Business Council (AIBC) was set up in March 2003 in Kuala Lumpur as a forum to bring key private sector players from India and the ASEAN countries on a single platform for business networking and sharing of ideas.

Connectivity:-

While India has made considerable progress in implementing the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan Multimodal Project, issues related to increasing the maritime and air connectivity between ASEAN and India and transforming the corridors of connectivity into economic corridors are under discussion. 

• A possible extension to India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway to Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam is also under consideration.

Delhi Dialogue: India has an annual Track 1.5 event Delhi Dialogue, for discussing politico-security and economic issues between ASEAN and India.

Based on the ASEAN-India Vision Statement adopted by the Commemorative Summit in November 2012, ASEAN and India launched the ASEAN-India Centre located in Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) in New Delhi to promote, among others, trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchanges. 

• ASEAN and India are currently discussing the modalities of the Centre.