General Background
At the Fourth ASEAN Summit in Singapore in January 1992, the ASEAN Heads of Government agreed that a Sectoral Dialogue with India be established. In March 1993, this relationship was formalised through an Exchange of Letters between ASEAN Secretary-General H.E. Dato' Ajit Singh and Minister of External Affairs of India, H.E. Mr. Shri Dinesh Singh. The ASEAN-India Joint Sectoral Cooperation Committee (AIJSCC), comprising officials from ASEAN Member Countries and India, was set up to conduct the Sectoral Dialogue relations in the areas of trade, investment and tourism. Cooperation in science and technology was included later on. Initially, it was agreed that the Secretary-General and the Minister of External Affairs of India would co-chair the AIJSCC.
In March 1993, the Secretary-General led an ASEAN delegation to the Meeting on the establishment of ASEAN-India Sectoral Dialogue Relations in New Delhi held from16-17 March 1993. The following mechanisms were also set up in addition to the AIJSCC: the ASEAN New Delhi Committee (ANDC), the ASEAN-India Business Council (AIBC) and the ASEAN-India Joint Management Committee (JMC). The JMC, which is chaired by the Secretary-General of ASEAN, or his representative, directs the disbursement of a fund from the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.
The AIJSCC convened its First Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, on 6 January 1994 and Second Meeting in New Delhi and Goa, India, from 13-17 February 1995.
At the Fifth ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in December 1995, the ASEAN Heads of Government agreed to elevate India to the status of full Dialogue Partner. For the first time, H.E. Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral, the-then Minister of External Affairs, represented India at the 29th AMM/PMC and Third ARF in July 1996 as a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN. At the 30th AMM/PMC and Fourth ARF in Kuala Lumpur in July 1997, India was represented by H.E. Mr. P. Chidambaram, Minister of Finance.
Institutional Arrangements
India participates in a series of consultative meetings with ASEAN which includes the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) 9+1 and 9+10, Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) Meeting, Joint Management Committee (JMC) Meeting, Senior Officials Consultations and meetings of the ASEAN-India Business Council (AIBC). The ASEAN-New Delhi Committee also assist in conducting and maintaining the dialogue with India.
At the apex of the dialogue process is India's participation in the PMC process immediately following the ASEAN Ministerial Meetings. The PMC 9+1 and 9+10 meetings offer an opportunity for the Indian Foreign Minister and ASEAN Foreign Ministers to review contemporary political, security, economic and development cooperation issues affecting the dialogue relations. India also participates in the ARF which takes stock of key regional political and security issues that concern or affect the region. Dialogue meetings are held at the level of ASEAN Directors-General and India's Secretary (Economic Relations) of the Ministry of External Affairs to provide a more in-depth review of economic and functional cooperation activities.
Following its elevation to Dialogue Partner status, the ASEAN-India Joint Cooperation Committee (AIJCC) was set up to replace the AIJSCC. The First AISJCC Meeting was convened in New Delhi from14-16 November 1996 as a follow-up to the elevation of the ASEAN-India relationship. ASEAN was led by H.E. Mr. Michael Cheok, Director-General of ASEAN-Singapore. His Indian counterpart at the meeting was H.E. Mr. Shri Amar Nath Ram, Secretary (Economic Relations) of the Ministry of External Affairs. The meeting agreed that while the AIJCC would supersede the AIJSCC, other relevant mechanisms set up under the ASEAN-India Sectoral Dialogue would continue to function. The meeting also noted that ASEAN and India had agreed to start political consultations at the Senior Officials (SOM) level and that the First ASEAN-India SOM Political Consultations is scheduled for February 1998 in India.
Economic Cooperation
The ASEAN-India Experts Group on Trade and Investment Cooperation presented its report at the Second Meeting of the AIJSCC in India in February 1995 and a ASEAN-India Working Group on Trade and Investment has now been established to carry out work in this area.
Cooperation in the private sector is spearheaded by the AIBC, which comprises representatives of ASEAN Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASEAN-CCI) and four representatives each from three Indian national bodies: the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and one representative from the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). The AIBC has formulated an action plan for the promotion of trade, investment, tourism and other services-related activities between ASEAN and India. The plan includes activities such as the dissemination and exchange of information, trade infrastructure,other aspects of trade facilitation and policy recommendations on trade liberalization.
ASEAN and India concurred that cooperation in tourism had great potential and agreed to commission a study on India's tourism profile from ASEAN's perspective as well as ASEAN's tourism profile from India's perspective. In October-November 1995, ASEAN and India exchanged visits of tour operators selling out-bound travel packages in a project financed by the ASEAN-India Fund.
Development Cooperation
In the area of science and technology, the ASEAN-India Fund has been used to organise three workshops: the ASEAN-India Workshop on Advanced Materials in Hyderabad,India, 13-16 December 1995, which produced two project proposals: "Research and Development Programme on Development of Raw Material and "Nd-Fe-B Magnets & Application Engineering" and "Wear Resistant and Thermal Barrier Coatings for Automotive and Other Applications"; the Meeting-cum-Workshop on ASEAN-India Cooperation in Biotechnology, 26-28 June 1996 in Bangkok, which produced a number of joint project proposals; and the Workshop on "Multimedia for Education" held in Chiang Mai in May 1996, which produced a project proposal on Multimedia in Education: Phase II.
India has proposed a joint project on the establishment of an informatics training centre in ASEAN. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have expressed interest in hosting the centre. ASEAN is currently studying the project proposal to determine the most suitable location of the centre. The ASEAN Committee on Science and Technology (COST) plans to invite India to a meeting of the Working Group on Science and Technology during the forthcoming 34th COST Meeting in Malaysia in November 1997.
ASEAN and India have also agreed to cooperate in human resources development. The ASEAN Secretariat is gathering information and inputs from India and ASEAN Member Countries for a preliminary study on human resources development cooperation. In addition, people-to-people interaction is to be promoted through the exchange of prominent speakers and scholars under the ASEAN-India Lecture Series and ASEAN/India studies.
Current ASEAN-India Relationship
Following a decision by the ASEAN Leaders at the 7th ASEAN Summit to convene ASEAN-Plus Summits, in particular an ASEAN-India Summit, officials commenced preparations for the Summit meeting at the fourth ASEAN-India Joint Cooperation Committee Meeting and the fourth ASEAN-India Senior Officials Meeting held in January 2002 and in March 2002, respectively, in Kuala Lumpur.
The ASEAN-India JCC agreed that ICT would be the major focus of ASEAN-India cooperation. Both sides resolved to strengthen cooperation in transport, infrastructure, tourism, human resources development, people-to-people interaction, combating transnational crime, and health. The fifth meeting of the ASEAN-India Working Group also took place in January 2002 to review all development cooperation activities.
The fourth ASEAN-India Senior Officials Meeting continued to serve as an important forum to exchange views on current regional and international issues of common concern. The meeting noted India’s interest to participate in the construction of the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link (SKRL) by linking the SKRL with the Indian railway network through Myanmar.
ASEAN and India are looking forward to the inaugural ASEAN-India Summit to be held on the occasion of the ASEAN Summit in November 2002 in Phnom Penh.
The Joint Study on AFTA-India Linkages for the Enhancement of Trade and Investment has been completed. An ASEAN-India Experts Group could be established to look into the specific recommendations contained in the study.
ASEAN and India held consultations among the agencies responsible for small and medium enterprise in March 2002 in Manila. They agreed on four possible areas for cooperation: processing industries, pharmaceuticals and traditional/herbal medicines, ICT, and textiles and garments.
The ASEAN-India Working Group on Science and Technology was convened in March 2002 in Bangalore and continued to explore cooperation in bio-informatics, space technology, surface engineering and material science.
