20th ASEAN India Economic Ministers’ Meeting

During the meeting, the Ministers highlighted that trade and economic relations between ASEAN and India are recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Trade between ASEAN and India reached USD 91.5 billion in 2021 increasing by 39.2% as compared to 2020.
ASEAN India Business Council (AIBC) recommended enhancing the ASEAN India economic partnership.
- AIBC is an organization established by the Governments of ASEAN and India in 2005 to facilitate closer business linkages and deepening of economic linkages between ASEAN and India.
The Ministers made commitments to take collective actions to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic and work toward a sustainable post-COVID-19 recovery.
The Ministers appreciated the launching of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) Upgrade Negotiations, mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination, vaccines production, public health surveillance, and medical technologies in moving forward with the post-pandemic recovery responses and facing future health crises.
Indian representative briefed about the progress made by India in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic with its current focus on vaccinating all eligible citizens and the major milestone of administration of 2 billion vaccine doses including booster doses achieved in July 2022.
- The Indian Minister has also shared information on the steps taken by India in liberalizing and simplifying its FDI policy.
- The Minister invited ASEAN countries to invest in India and become partners in its success.
The ASEAN Ministers welcomed the successful outcomes of the 12th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference held in June 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland and ensure their support for a rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive, equitable, and transparent multilateral trading system, as embodied in the WTO.
The Ministers advocated the Review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) to make it more user-friendly, simple, and trade facilitative for businesses, as well as responsive to the current global and regional challenges including supply chain disruptions.
Indian representative has reiterated India’s commitment to supporting a strong, unified and prosperous ASEAN and also promoting sustainable trade which balances the aspirations of both the partners.

What is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations?

About:

It is a regional grouping that promotes economic, political, and security cooperation.
It was established in August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the founding fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Its chairmanship rotates annually, based on the alphabetical order of the English names of Member States.
ASEAN countries have a total population of 650 million people and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 2.8 trillion.
Commodity trade between India and ASEAN region has reached 98.39 billion in the period April 2021- February 2022.India’s main trading ties are with Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Members:

ASEAN brings together ten Southeast Asian states – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – into one organisation.

India-ASEAN Relations

India began formal engagement with ASEAN in 1992 as a “Sectoral Dialogue Partner” (and subsequently as a “Dialogue Partner” in 1996.
At the 20th Commemorative Summit Meeting in New Delhi (December 2012) India’s Dialogue Partnership was further elevated to a Strategic Partnership.
During the 25th Commemorative Summit in New Delhi (January 2018), India and ASEAN further agreed that our Strategic Partnership will be focused on building cooperation in the maritime domain.
The year 2022 marks 30 years of ASEAN-India relations and it has been designated as ASEAN-India Friendship Year by the leaders in October 2021.
Engagement with ASEAN is a multi-level interaction process. At the apex is the annual summits (“ASEAN-India Summit”) supported by meetings at the Foreign Minister level (“ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers Meeting”-AIFMM.
To support cooperation activities between ASEAN and India, Govt of India has created three funds:
- ASEAN-India Cooperation Fund (AIF),
- ASEAN-India Green Fund (AIGF) and
- ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund (AISTDF).
The ‘Delhi Dialogue’ (DD) mechanism hosted by India annually allows the participation of think tanks, academics and prominent civil society persons from both India and the ASEAN region, in addition to government representatives, to contribute ideas and perspectives to furthering the India-ASEAN strategic partnership.
The eсоnоmiс аnd investment relаtiоnshiр between Indiа аnd АSEАN hаs been рrоgressively improving, with АSEАN nоw being Indiа’s fоurth-lаrgest trading раrtner.
АSEАN-Indiа соnneсtivity is а рriоrity fоr India аs аlsо the АSEАN соuntries. In 2013, Indiа beсаme the third diаlоgue раrtner оf АSEАN tо initiаte аn АSEАN Соnneсtivity Сооrdinаting Соmmittee-Indiа
- Indiа hаs mаde соnsiderаble рrоgress in imрlementing the Indiа-Myаnmаr-Thаilаnd Trilаterаl Highwаy аnd the Kаlаdаn Multimоdаl Рrоjeсt, issues relаted tо inсreаsing the mаritime аnd аir соnneсtivity between АSEАN аnd Indiа аnd trаnsfоrming the соrridоrs оf соnneсtivity intо eсоnоmiс соrridоrs аre under disсussiоn.
Indiа and АSEАN are working together on several рrоjeсts in the аreаs оf аgriсulture, sсienсe аnd teсhnоlоgy, sрасe, envirоnment аnd сlimаte сhаnge, humаn resоurсe develорment, сарасity building, new аnd renewаble energy, tourism, рeорle-tо-рeорle соnneсtiоns аnd соnneсtivity, аnd sо оn.