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1. 
SSB Lec/Gp Dis -3(ASEAN)Association of Southeast Asian Nations
By
Col Mukteshwar Prasad
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed in 1967 by Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to promote political and economic
cooperation and regional stability. Brunei joined in 1984, shortly after its independence from the
United Kingdom, and Vietnam joined ASEAN as its seventh member in 1995. Laos and Burma
were admitted into full membership in July 1997 as ASEAN celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Cambodia became ASEAN’s tenth member in 1999.
The ASEAN Declaration in 1967, considered ASEAN’s founding document, formalized the
principles of peace and cooperation to which ASEAN is dedicated. The ASEAN Charter entered
into force on 15 December 2008. With the entry into force of the ASEAN Charter, ASEAN
established its legal identity as an international organization and took a major step in its
community-building process.
The ASEAN Community is comprised of three pillars, the Political-Security Community,
Economic Community and Socio-Cultural Community. Each pillar has its own Blueprint
approved at the summit level, and, together with the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI)
Strategic Framework and IAI Work Plan Phase II (2009-2015), they form the Roadmap for and
ASEAN Community 2009-2015.
ASEAN commands far greater influence on Asia-Pacific trade, political, and security issues than
its members could achieve individually. This has driven ASEAN’s community building efforts.
This work is based largely on consultation, consensus, and cooperation.
U.S. relations with ASEAN have been excellent since its inception. The United States became a
Dialogue Partner country of ASEAN in 1977. Dialogue partners meet regularly with ASEAN at
the working and senior levels to guide the development of our regional relations. In July 2009,
Secretary Clinton signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) which
has greatly enhanced U.S. political relations with ASEAN.
Every year following the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, ASEAN holds its Post-Ministerial
Conference (PMC) to which the Secretary of State is invited. In 1994, ASEAN took the lead in
establishing the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which now has 27 members and meets each
year at the ministerial level just after the PMC.
On November 15, 2009, President Obama met with ASEAN leaders in Singapore. This was the
first meeting ever between a U.S. President and all ten ASEAN leaders. The President’s meeting
has greatly advanced U.S. relations with ASEAN and the East Asia region.

2. Indiahas beenfollowinga"LookEast Policy”since 1990s. Indiabecame a sectoral dialogue partnerof
ASEAN in1992, whichwasupgradedto full dialoguepartnershipin1996. Since 2002, we have had
annual SummitswithASEAN.Tomarkthe 20th anniversaryof our dialogue-levelpartnershipandthe
10th anniversaryof ourSummit-level partnershipwithASEAN,India hostedthe ASEAN-India
CommemorativeSummitonthe theme "ASEAN-IndiaPartnershipforPeace andShared Prosperity”.
At the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit held on 20 December 2012 in New Delhi, India, the
Leaders adopted the ASEAN-India Vision Statement and declared that the ASEAN-India Partnership
stands elevated to a Strategic Partnership.
Political and Security Cooperation
Since India became a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN, the collaboration has transcended the realm of
functional cooperation to cover political and security dimensions. India participates in a series of
consultative meetings with ASEAN under the ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations, which include
Summit, ministerial meetings, senior officials meetings, and meetings at experts level, as well as
through dialogue and cooperation frameworks initiated by ASEAN, such as the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF), the Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) 10+1, the East Asia Summit (EAS),Mekong-
Ganga Cooperation and Bengal Initiative for Multi sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation
(BIMSTEC), which help contribute to enhancing regional dialogue and accelerating regional
integration.
India acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) on 8 October 2003
during the 2nd ASEAN-India Summit in Bali, Indonesia. At the same occasion, ASEAN and India also
signed a Joint Declaration for Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism, symbolising
concrete initiatives to step up cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
The 7th ASEAN-India Summit held in October 2009 also noted with satisfaction the steady progress of
implementation of the ASEAN–India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity.
Subsequently, the new ASEAN-India Plan of Action for 2010-2015 was developed and adopted by
the Leaders at the 8th ASEAN-India Summit in October 2010 in Ha Noi.
India announced its intention to establish a separate Diplomatic Mission to ASEAN with a Resident
Ambassador as an illustration of the intensification of the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership.
ASEAN and India marked the 20th anniversary of their Dialogue Relations in 2012 with a
Commemorative Summit held in India on 20 December 2012. A number of commemorative activities
were carried out to signify the expanding and deepening of the Dialogue Partnership.
C. Economic Cooperation
Volume of trade and investment flows between ASEAN and India remained relatively low compared
with other dialogue partners of ASEAN. At the 10th ASEAN-India Summit in November 2012, the
Leaders set the target ofUS$100 billion by 2015 for ASEAN-India trade.
By January 2015, the Agreement has been signed by all ASEAN Member States and India. The
Agreement will enter into force in July 2015.
ASEAN and India are also working on enhancing private sector engagement, including the re-
activation of the ASEAN-India Business Council (AIBC), the holding of ASEAN-India Business
Summit (AIBS) and an ASEAN-India Business Fair and Conclave (AIBFC).

3. India presented her initiatives for enhanced cooperation on ASEAN Action Plan, covering various
sectors such as land transport, maritime transport,border management, customs, immigration,
logistics and safety and Public Private Partnership (PPP).
The India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway Project and its extension to Laos and Cambodiais
one of current proposed projects to achieve greater ASEAN-India physical connectivity. The project is
planned to connect the ASEAN Highway Network with the highway system in eastern India.
In tourism the establishment of the ASEAN Promotional Chapter for Tourism (APCT) in Mumbai,
India was an important collaborative platform for ASEAN National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) to
market Southeast Asia to the Indian consumers and, at the same time, create mutual awareness
between ASEAN Member States and India.
Significant developments can also be seen in the cooperation in the agriculture and forestry sector
as ASEAN and India have successfully held ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and
Forestry. The Ministers adopted the Medium Term Plan of Action for ASEAN-India Cooperation in
Agriculture (2011-2015) with the view to promoting and intensifying cooperation in the agriculture and
forestry sector between ASEAN and India, in order to meet the challenges of food security, to
exchange information and technology, to cooperate on research and development projects, to
encourage agriculture and forestry-related industries, and to strengthen human resources
development.
Socio-Cultural Cooperation
Over the years, ASEAN-India socio-cultural cooperation has been expanded to include human
resource development, science and technology (S&T), people-to-people contacts, health and
pharmaceuticals, transport and infrastructure, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), tourism,
information and communication technology (ICT), agriculture, energy and Initiative for ASEAN
Integration (IAI). All cooperation projects are funded by the ASEAN-India Fund (AIF).
Cooperation in these areas are carried out through the implementation of the Plan of Action (PoA)
to Implement the ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity.India is also
actively contributing to the implementation of the IAI Work Plan with the implementation of some of
the IAI projects/activities, such as the Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDC) and the Centres
for the English Language Training (CELT) in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam. India also
positively considering the establishment of a CELT in Indonesia.