Press Release

7th India – ASEAN and 4th East Asia Summit in Thailand

09/04/2009

1.The India-ASEAN Summit, the 7th in the series beginning in 2002, is being held at a crucial time in global affairs. There is a financial crisis of unprecedented dimensions, which is calling into question the economic processes unleashed by globalization.

2. India has in various meetings with ASEAN, broadened and deepened functional cooperation in diverse fields, especially with a focus on the Initiatives for ASEAN Integration (IAI), launched by ASEAN to bridge the intra-ASEAN developmental gap between the four new ASEAN entrants, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV countries), and the other six. Many projects in entrepreneurship development and English Language teaching have been established.

3. The sectors of agriculture, investment, transportation, education, human resource development, science & technology, environment, capacity building and culture offer immense scope for further consolidating our relations with ASEAN.

4. If the India-ASEAN Summit represents the vehicle for India’s closer economic integration with an economically dynamic region in our neighbourhood, the East Asia Summit (EAS) mechanism, launched in 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, provides India the forum to exchange views in the larger East Asian context. Participation in a larger regional Asian body also helps deeper engagement for a growing economy like India.

5. In the context of the current global economic slowdown, developing regional synergies is imperative for dealing with the recessionary trends.

6. The East Asia Summit is among the first steps in community building in Asia, which would help all nations in the group enabling consideration of a new framework for cooperation in the 21st Century.

New Delhi
April 9, 2009