January 26, 2018
Today, 1.25
billion Indians will have the honour to host ten esteemed guests – leaders of
ASEAN nations – at India’s Republic Day celebrations in our capital, New Delhi.
Yesterday, I had the privilege to host the ASEAN leaders for the Commemorative
Summit to mark 25 years of ASEAN-India Partnership. Their presence with us is an
unprecedented gesture of goodwill from ASEAN nations. Responding to this, on a
winter morning, India has come out to greet them in a warm embrace of
friendship.
This is no
ordinary event. It is a historic milestone in a remarkable journey that has
brought India and ASEAN in a deepening partnership of great promise for their
1.9 billion people, about one-fourth of humankind.
India-ASEAN
partnership may be just 25 years old. But India’s ties with Southeast Asia
stretch back more than two millennia. Forged in peace and friendship, religion
and culture, art and commerce, language and literature, these enduring links
are now present in every facet of the magnificent diversity of India and
Southeast Asia, providing a unique envelope of comfort and familiarity between
our people.
More than two
decades ago, India opened itself to the world with tectonic changes. And, with
instincts honed over centuries of interaction, it turned naturally to the East.
Thus began a new journey of India’s reintegration with the East. For India,
most of our major partners and markets – from ASEAN and East Asia to North
America – lie to the East. And, Southeast Asia and ASEAN, our neighbours by
land and sea, have been the springboard of our Look East and, since last three
years, the Act East Policy.
Along the way,
from dialogue partners, ASEAN and India have become strategic partners. We
advance our broad-based partnership through 30 mechanisms. With each ASEAN
member, we have a growing diplomatic, economic and security partnership. We
work together to keep our seas safe and secure. Our trade and investment flows
have multiplied several times. ASEAN is India’s fourth largest trading partner;
India is ASEAN’s seventh. Over 20% of India’s outbound investments go to ASEAN.
Led by Singapore, ASEAN is India’s leading source of investments. India’s
Foreign Trade Agreements in the region are its oldest and among the most
ambitious anywhere. Air links have expanded rapidly and we are extending
highways deep into continental Southeast Asia with new urgency and priority.
Growing connectivity has reinforced proximity. It has also put India among the
fastest growing sources of tourism in Southeast Asia. Over 6 million strong
Indian diaspora in the region – rooted in diversity and steeped in dynamism – constitutes
an extraordinary human bond between us.
India and
Myanmar share a land-border of over 1600 kms as well as a maritime boundary.
Religious and cultural traditions flowing from our deep sense of kinship and
our common Buddhist heritage bind us as closely as does our shared historical
past. Nothing illuminates it more gloriously than the gleaming tower of
Shwedagon Pagoda. The cooperation to restore Ananda Temple in Bagan with
assistance of the Archaeological Survey of India also is emblematic of this shared
heritage.
During the
colonial period, political bonds were forged between our leaders, who displayed
a great sense of hope and unity during our common struggle for independence.
Gandhiji visited Yangon several times. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was deported to
Yangon for many years. The clarion call of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose for
India’s independence stirred the souls of many in Myanmar.
Our trade has
more than doubled over the last decade. Our investment ties are also robust.
Development cooperation has a significant role in India’s relations with
Myanmar. This assistance portfolio is presently worth over $1.73 billion.
India’s transparent development cooperation is in line with Myanmar’s national
priorities and also builds synergy with the Master Plan of ASEAN Connectivity.
And India and
ASEAN are doing much more. Our partnership in ASEAN-led institutions like East
Asia Summit, ADMM+ and ARF are advancing peace and stability in our region.
India is also an eager participant in Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership Agreement, seeking a comprehensive, balanced and fair agreement for
all 16 participants.
The strength and
resilience of partnerships come not just from arithmetic of numbers, but also
from the underpinnings of the relationship. India and ASEAN nations have
relations free from contests and claims. We have a common vision for the
future, built on commitment to inclusion and integration, belief in sovereign
equality of all nations irrespective of size, and support for free and open
pathways of commerce and engagement.
ASEAN-India
partnership will continue to grow. With the gift of demography, dynamism and
demand – and with rapidly maturing economies – India and ASEAN will build a
strong economic partnership. Connectivity will increase and trade will expand.
In an era of cooperative and competitive federalism in India, our states are
also building productive cooperation with Southeast Asian nations. India’s
North-East is on a resurgent path. Links with Southeast Asia will accelerate
its progress. In turn, a connected North-East will be a bridge to ASEAN-India
ties of our dreams.
As Prime
Minister, I have attended four annual ASEAN-India Summits and East Asia
Summits. These have reinforced my conviction in ASEAN unity, centrality and
leadership in shaping the region in this vision.
This is a year
of milestones. India turned 70 last year. ASEAN reached the golden milestone of
50 years. We can each look to our future with optimism -and to our partnership
with confidence.
At 70, India
exudes the spirit, enterprise and energy of its young population. As the
fastest growing major economy in the world, India has become the new frontier
of global opportunities and an anchor of stability of global economy. With
every passing day, it is easier and smoother to do business in India. I hope
that ASEAN nations, as our neighbours and friends, will be an integral part of
New India’s transformation.
We admire
ASEAN’s own progress. Born when Southeast Asia was a theatre of a brutal war
and a region of uncertain nations, ASEAN has united ten countries behind a
common purpose and a shared future.
We have the
potential to pursue higher ambitions and address the challenges of our times:
from infrastructure and urbanization to resilient agriculture and a healthy
planet. We can also use the power of digital technology, innovation and
connectivity to transform lives at unprecedented speed and scale.
A future of hope
needs the solid bedrock of peace. This is an age of change, disruptions and
shifts that comes only rarely in history. ASEAN and India have immense
opportunities – indeed, enormous responsibility – to chart a steady course
through the uncertainty and turbulence of our times to a stable and peaceful
future for our region and the world.
Indians have
always looked East to see the nurturing sunrise and the light of opportunities.
Now, as before, the East, or the Indo Pacific Region, will be indispensable to
India’s future and our common destiny. ASEAN-India partnership will play a
defining role in both. And, in Delhi, ASEAN and India have renewed their pledge
for the journey ahead.
By Narendra
Modi,
Prime Minister
of India
(The writer is
the Prime Minister of India)
Ref; The Global
New Light of Myanmar
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