| Hakim Hayat in New Delhi, India |
THE stage is set for the two-day Asean-India Commemorative Summit to be held in India’s capital New Delhi starting today, where His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam will be joining leaders from nine other Asean member countries to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the special summit commemorating 25 years of Asean-India dialogue partnership.
Officials from India’s Ministry of External Affairs said Modi will be hosting a luncheon for all the Asean leaders today before hosting a closed retreat on maritime and security cooperation, followed by a plenary session discussing global and regional issues as well as the roadmap of Asean-India cooperation.
His Majesty, together with Modi and the other heads of Asean member countries are also scheduled to release the Asean-India Commemorative Stamp set containing 11 stamps (one Indian stamp and one stamp each from Asean member countries).
The summit, with the theme ‘Shared Values, Common Destiny’, comes at an important time as Asean and India are seeing enhanced cooperation in various fields, including in regional connectivity, trade and business and regional security.
The leaders are also expected to adopt the Delhi Declaration at the summit.
Among the issues expected to be discussed are the blue economy as well as efforts to enhance connectivity between the two sides in enhancing the Asean-India economic cooperation.
The blue economy is a systematic approach which seeks to find solutions that are environmentally beneficial as well as have financial and social benefits.
In addition to attending the summit, His Majesty and the other Asean heads of state will attend the 69th Republic Day of India celebration as guests of honour tomorrow, the first time in history that all Asean leaders are invited to attend the celebration as honorary guests.
A growing economic power, India has been forging closer ties in the last few years with its neighbours in the east, particularly Southeast Asian countries, where it sees vast potential for cooperation in different areas that remain untapped.
This is also in line with India’s ‘look east policy’, an effort initiated almost two decades ago to cultivate extensive economic and strategic relations with the nations of Southeast Asia to bolster its standing, marking a strategic shift in India’s perspective of the world.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the government of India has made its relations with East Asian neighbours a foreign policy priority.
From the very beginning the Modi government made it clear that India would focus more and more on improving relations with Asean and other East Asian countries as per India’s ‘look east policy’ for better economic engagement with its eastern neighbours.
The policy is also increasingly being developed as a tool for forging strategic partnership and security cooperation with countries in the region in general.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that Asean-India trade and investment relations have been growing steadily, with Asean being India’s fourth largest trading partner. India’s trade with Asean has increased to $70 billion in 2016-17 from $65 billion in 2015-16.
While officiating at a sideline event to commemorate the Asean-India Commemorative Summit in New Delhi, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that her country’s cultural relation with Southeast Asia is centuries old and serves as a living link between the two sides.
Making the reference as she launched the Asean-India Youth Awards, the final phase of events leading to the Asean-India Commemorative Summit, she said, “We are in South Asia and they are in Southeast Asia. So we cannot become part of their region geographically. But we have a common cultural link that is not just a mere connection, but a living link.”
The Asean-India Dialogue Partnership was formed on January 28, 1992 when a Sectoral Dialogue Partnership with India was launched by Asean at its fourth summit in Singapore.
“Our ties, however, are not just 25 years old. Our ties stretch long back in history,” said Swaraj in her speech which was attended by top foreign dignitaries from the region that arrived in New Delhi for the summit.
According to the Indian High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam Nagma Mohamed Mallick, over the years, Brunei and India have made great progress in various areas of cooperation and enjoys close bilateral relations.
She said Brunei is an important partner in India’s energy security and is working to establish newer ties in education, civil aviation and hydrocarbon sectors.
“We in India are also looking for ways to diversify our trade with Brunei and we support the Brunei Government’s efforts to diversify their economy and we are making efforts in the areas of fertiliser as well as oil and gas. We are also trying to broaden bilateral trade and economic relationship,” she added.
India imports crude oil worth $1 billion from Brunei annually, making India the third largest importer for Brunei. As the demand expands, the opportunity to enhance export of hydrocarbon to India continues to grow, with the potential to diversify and add value in the hydrocarbon export chain.
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