The 15th ASEAN-India Senior Officials Meeting (AISOM) issued a
statement in New Delhi on Feb. 21, affirming the event was the first
official engagement between ASEAN and India following the elevation of
the relationship to a strategic partnership.
At the
meeting, senior officials from 10 ASEAN countries, Deputy Secretary
General of ASEAN and Indian officials discussed ways to implement the
ASEAN-India Vision Statement of the ASEAN leaders and Indian Prime
Minister at the ASEAN-India Summit on Dec. 20 last year in New Delhi .
The head delegate of Brunei, Chair of ASEAN, stressed the role of the
ASEAN people in realizing the objective of the ASEAN Community, the
Initiative for ASEAN Integration, the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity
and ASEAN’s central role in the political security and economic
architecture in East Asia .
The official also
appreciated India’s efforts in setting up Entrepreneurship Development
Centres (EDCs) and Centres for English Language Training (CELTs) in the
region.
AISOM discussed India’s important and
constructive contributions to the region and emphasized the
intensification of cooperation between ASEAN and India to overcome
challenges relating to international terrorism, piracy and drugs
trafficking and India’s contributions to the ASEAN Regional Forum
(ARF), ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+) and Expanded
Maritime Forum.
The meeting underscored the necessity
for cooperation between the two sides in agriculture,
science-technology, trade, renewable energy, tourism, environment and
connectivity
It supported joint efforts to prepare for
the signing of a Free Trade Agreement on Services and Investment by
ASEAN and Indian Economic Ministers in August this year.
The event highlighted various initiatives during the Commemorative Year
2012 to improve people-to-people interactions between ASEAN and India .
The participants agreed that the next AISOM and the eighth East Asia Summit will be held on Oct. 9-10 this year in Brunei.-VNA