Come January, Delhi will host the largest Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) India business and investment summit.
      The announcement of the summit came from Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the recent 15th India-ASEAN Summit and the 12th East Asia Summit in Manila. “India’s Look East policy puts this region at the center of our engagement. So, connectivity with ASEAN by land, sea, and air remains our priority,” said Modi.
      In September 2016, at a similar meet in Laos, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had stressed that India was a “very important” partner to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as far as economics and connectivity were concerned.
      “If both sides can work together to integrate their economies to enhance trade and investment flows, we will have a big impact (on) Asia’s growth,” he had said.
      “It’s not economic opportunities, but a key way for India to engage in the Asia Pacific and boost its strategic relevance to the world,” Lee pointed out.

Good Time To Celebrate

      The January 2018 Delhi Summit comes at a very crucial time for both India and ASEAN. With the belligerent Chinese dragon breathing down India’s neck, Narendra Modi has been reaching out to ASEAN leaders to invite them for India’s 69th Republic Day celebrations.
      The move commemorates India’s 25 years of dialogue partnership with the bloc.
      The Summit, according to knowledgeable persons in the foreign ministry, will see the signing of an air services agreement.
      When that happens, the air cargo trade is hoping to see a significant upswing. The country’s two-way trade with ASEAN stands at around $76 billion and is projected to reach $200 billion by 2022.

All Signs Point Upward

      According to a study by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), an enhanced ASEAN-India connectivity could result in gains of over five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, while India’s GDP would gain more than two percent.
Tirthankar Ghosh