Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reiterated Friday that ASEAN remains the cornerstone of India’s Act East policy and the Indo-Pacific vision. Addressing the opening session of the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, Jaishankar stated that it was encouraging to note that India-ASEAN partnership continues to acquire ever more dimensions with each passing year.
“For India, ASEAN is the cornerstone of its Act East Policy and the Indo-Pacific vision that was thereafter built on it. For us, political, economic and security cooperation with ASEAN is of the utmost priority. So too are people-to-people linkages, that we are constantly seeking to expand,” Jaishankar said in his opening remarks at the meeting. The 57th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) in Vientiane is being attended by over 1000 delegates, including foreign ministers and representatives from 31 countries.
“While our achievements are substantial, our ambitions must always remain high,” Jaishankar told the gathering. He also highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jakarta in September 2023 to attend the 20th ASEAN-India Summit and 18th East Asia Summit, the first major event for the grouping since the elevation of India-ASEAN relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2022.
