Prime Minster Modi pens an article highlighting the significance of ASEAN-India relationship

Prime Minister Narendra Modi penned an article titled 'Shared values, common destiny' that was published in all the ASEAN nations. His article highlights the significance of India-ASEAN relationship. In the article, he thanked the heads of ASEAN for accepting India's invitation and called it an 'unprecedented gesture of goodwill'.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leaving no stone unturned to expand India’s diplomatic outreach in the ASEAN countries. He not only hosted all the ASEAN leaders as Chief Guests on the 69th Republic Day, but also wrote an opinion piece, highlighting the significance of India’s relation with ASEAN nations. The op-ed titled ‘Shared values, common destiny’ was published in all the ASEAN nations. The op-ed written by PM Modi to mark the 25 years of ASEAN-India partnership terms the presence of ASEAN leaders in India as an ‘unprecedented gesture of goodwill’. Modi, in his opinion piece, called the presence of ASEAN heads in India as an extraordinary event, adding that “India-ASEAN partnership may be just 25 years old, but India’s ties with South-east Asia stretch back more than two millennia.”

Prime Minister Modi, in his article, informs about his government’s ‘Act East Policy’ saying, “South-east Asia and ASEAN, our neighbours by land and sea, have been the springboard of our Look East and, since the last three years, the Act East policy.” Modi has dedicated the lion share of his article in highlighting the ties that India share with the ASEAN nations in the areas of trade and security. “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,” writes Modi in his opinion piece.

Not only has he mentioned about the significance of ASEAN nations for India but has also written about the significance of India for ASEAN nations as well. “India’s free trade agreements in the region are it’s oldest and among the most ambitious anywhere,” reads the article, adding that the growing connectivity has made ‘India among the fastest-growing sources of tourism in South-east Asia’.

Modi’s article gives a special mention to Singapore. He writes, “Singapore is a window to the heritage of India’s ties to the region, the progress of the present and the potential of the future. Singapore was a bridge between India and ASEAN.” Claiming that India and ASEAN nations ‘have relations free from contests and claims’ Modi expressed his wish for the ASEAN nations to be an integral part of New India’s transformation.

Modi, in his piece, pointed out that ASEAN and India have immense opportunities and concluded saying that ‘the East, or the Indo-Pacific region, will be indispensable to India’s future and our common destiny.’

The article was published in 27 newspapers across 10 nations, as per a release by the Ministry of External Affairs.