In a move that will showcase India's strong ties with the ASEAN countries, all ten leaders of Southeast Asian nations will take part in India's Republic Day celebrations next month as chief guests.
In a move that will showcase India's strong ties with the ASEAN countries, all ten leaders of Southeast Asian nations will take part in India's Republic Day celebrations next month as chief guests.
ANI reported that an ASEAN-India tableau will also be part of the Republic Day parade on January 26.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month invited leaders of 10 ASEAN countries to attend the Republic Day celebrations as well as participate at a commemorative summit marking 25th anniversary of India's ties with the bloc and they accepted it.
In his address at the ASEAN-India Summit on November 14, Modi said he was looking forward to a "befitting culmination of the commemorative year and receiving you" at the India-ASEAN Special Commemorative Summit on January 25 next year in New Delhi.
He said 1.25 billion people of India are keen to welcome the ASEAN leaders as the Chief Guests at India's 69th Republic Day celebrations.
The Ministry of External Affairs had confirmed that the ASEAN leaders "graciously" accepted PM Modi's invitation to attend the two events.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN has Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam as its members.
The ASEAN region along with India together comprises combined population of 1.85 billion people, which is one fourth of the global population and their combined GDP has been estimated at over US $3.8 trillion.
Investment from ASEAN to India has been over US $70 billion in the last 17 years accounting for more than 17% of India's total FDI.
India's investment in ASEAN during the same period has been more than US $40 billion.
(With PTI inputs)
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