India hosted ASEAN Foreign Ministers and Secretary General for a Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (SAIFMM) on 16-17 June 2022 to commemorate 30 years of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations. Foreign ministers of the ASEAN nations on Thursday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the ongoing cooperation between the two sides.

"Had a good interaction with Foreign Ministers and Representatives of @ASEAN countries as we celebrate 30 years of close India-ASEAN cooperation," Prime Minister Modi tweeted.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval were also present in the meeting between the prime minister and the ASEAN foreign ministers. The Ministers reviewed the status of ASEAN-India Partnership and set out the path for the coming decade. The discussions included key focus areas of Covid-19 & Health, Trade & Commerce, Connectivity – physical and digital, Education & Capacity Building, as well as implementation of ASEAN-India Joint Statement on Cooperation on the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). The Ministers also exchanged views on important regional and international developments and post pandemic economic recovery. The Meeting unanimously adopted the Co-Chairs’ Statement.

The ASEAN-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of sectoral partnership in 1992 which graduated to full dialogue partnership in December 1995 and summit level partnership in 2002.

The ties were elevated to a strategic partnership in 2012. The ASEAN is central to India's Act East Policy and its vision for the wider Indo-Pacific. The ASEAN comprises Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region, and India and several other countries including the US, China, Japan and Australia are its dialogue partners, PTI reported.

Image source: Twitter