New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday underlined that all forms of connectivity between India and ASEAN is the top priority for the country.
“India and ASEAN's Strategic Partnership is based on our shared rich historical, geographical and cultural heritage. The ASEAN Group is the nodal center of our Act East Policy since the very beginning,” the prime minister said during at 17th India-ASEAN Virtual Summit.
“Speeding up all types of connectivity initiatives between India and ASEAN - physical, economic, social, digital, financial, maritime - is the top priority for us,” he said.
There is ample closeness between India's "Indo Pacific Oceans Initiative" and ASEAN's "Outlook on Indo Pacific".
“We firmly believe that a ‘Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN’ is essential for ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’,” Mr Modi said.
“We have come very close in all these areas in the last few years. I believe that today's interaction, even if it is happening via virtual medium, will be advantageous in further reducing our differences,” he added.
The Summit is being held in virtual format due to Covid-19 pandemic.
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.
The summit is taking place amid China’s aggressive behaviour in the disputed South China Sea as well as in eastern Ladakh.
A number of ASEAN countries have territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
The 10 member countries of ASEAN are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
The ties between India and ASEAN have been on an upswing in the last few years with focus being on ramping up cooperation in the areas of trade and investment as well as security and defence.
The ASEAN region along with India together comprises a combined population of 1.85 billion people, which is one fourth of the global population and their combined GDP has been estimated at over $3.8 trillion.
