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India and ASEAN on Thursday agreed to cooperate in building more robust air and maritime connectivity along with working toward enhancing cooperation in the field of defence.
This was stated in a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs. At the special two-day ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers' Meeting (SAIFMM) that began here today, the leaders agreed to cooperate in building more robust air and maritime connectivity along with working toward enhancing cooperation in the field of defence. The SAIFMM marks the 30th anniversary of India's dialogue relations with the 10-member bloc that includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. It also marks the 10th anniversary of India's Strategic Partnership with ASEAN. Reviewing the past 30 years of Partnership, the Meeting agreed, "to strengthen regional connectivity, including both physical and digital, and explore synergies between the MPAC 2025 and India's connectivity initiatives under India's Act East Policy, in line with "Connecting the Connectivities" approach," read the MEA statement. Notably, the Master Plan on ASEAN connectivity 2025 focuses on five strategic areas to achieve the vision of sustainable infrastructure, digital innovation, seamless logistics, regulatory excellence and people mobility. The Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity was adopted at the 17th ASEAN Summit on October 28, 2010 in Hanoi, Vietnam and hereafter referred to as MPAC 2010. The Meeting also emphasised the need for the early completion and operationalisation of the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and looked forward to its eastward extension to Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam. It also stressed supporting and collaborating with the ASEAN Smart Cities Network in building communities that are resilient, innovative and well-connected through technological advancement. The leaders at the meeting emphasised the need for more robust air and maritime connectivity. The foreign ministers also expressed consensus to develop an open, secure, interoperable and user-empowering digital connectivity ecosystem, in view of the importance of digital platforms for improved access in areas such as healthcare, education, finance, etc. "In this regard, the Meeting also agreed to strengthen ASEAN-India cooperation on cyber and related issues through the proposed G-2-G ASEAN-India Cyber Dialogue in addition to India's Track 1.5 Dialogue on Cyber Issues with ASEAN, being held since 2019," the MEA statement read. To enhance cooperation in the field of Defence through the ADMM-Plus and welcomed the proposed ASEAN-India Defence Ministers Informal Meeting in November 2022 and the proposed ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise. The ADMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN and its eight Dialogue Partners - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States (collectively referred to as the "Plus Countries") - to strengthen security and defence cooperation for peace, stability, and development in the region. The Inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, on October 12, 2010. Today's meeting also looked forward to the convening of the Field Training Exercise of the ADMM-Plus Experts' Working Group on Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) in Indonesia in 2023. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar along with other ASEAN foreign ministers also welcomed "ASEAN-India cooperation in preventing and countering terrorism, the rise of radicalisation and violent extremism, and combating transnational crimes through the early finalization of the Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC)+ India Work Programme on Transnational Crime." At the meeting, co-chairs -- Singapore and India, also called for strengthening ties amid the Russia-Ukraine war. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan co-chaired the meeting along with EAM Jaishankar. (ANI)
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