India keen to take ties with ASEAN to new heights

The India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement was signed in August 2009 and it came into force on January 1, 2010. The FTA on services and investment is likely to be signed during meeting of Economic and Trade Ministers here later this month.

Swaraj also conveyed that the new government in India would like to stand with the grouping and take the relationship forward so that people's aspirations for growth and development could be fulfilled.

“As you are on the brink of achieving your long cherished goal of the ASEAN Community by 2015, I bring to you the assurance of the new Government in India that we would like to stand with you and take the trajectories of our common interests higher in the coming years, both in terms of achievement and relevance to our bilateral ASEANƯ relationship and also in terms of the multilateral ambition at the regional and global levels,” Swaraj said.

Strongly pitching for improvement in connectivity, the External Affairs Minister said India wanted connectivity in all its dimensions - geographic, institutional and people-to-people.

She also referred to 5Ts of government of India-- - Tradition, Talent, Tourism, Trade and Technology—reflecting priority areas and noted that in foreign policy connectivity precedes them all.

“To the 5 Ts of the Government of India - Tradition, Talent, Tourism, Trade and Technology, I would like to reiterate the value of a ‘C' before them all in foreign policy the ‘C' of connectivity in all its dimensions, geographic, institutional and people-to-people.  “I would like this ‘C' of connectivity to translate into tangible and urgent action on the ground, bringing our capacities together to mutual benefit,” she said.  

Talking about taking forward the ASEAN-India ties to the next level, she said India will soon draft an action plan in this regard.

“We have an impressive array of 26 cross-sectoral annual dialogue mechanisms between ASEAN and India. We should soon be drafting our next Plan of Action for 2016-2021,” Swaraj said.

“The ASEAN-India strategic partnership owes its strength to the fact that our ‘Look East' to ASEAN meets your ‘Look West' towards India. There is synergy and a sense of fraternity in our partnership, as we look towards a shared future of peace and stability, economic growth and prosperity in our region,” she said.