President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday pledged India’s support to ASEAN nations in the pursuit of a “rules-based regional architecture that is open, inclusive and equitable”.
Kovind said this while he received the ASEAN heads of state and government at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and hosted a lunch in their honour.
The president stressed that India’s ‘Act East policy’ reinforced its ancient links with Southeast Asia based on enhanced political, security, economic and cultural ties.
“In this context, India greatly values ASEAN’s role as a proponent of peace, stability and prosperity in the region,” Kovind said, reiterating India’s support to ASEAN’s unity and centrality.
“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with ASEAN in pursuit of a rules-based regional architecture that is open, inclusive, balanced and equitable,” he said.
“Culture, commerce and connectivity -- and ideas and thought -- have woven us together in one common fabric. Our partnership is based on our shared heritage and is built on the foundation of strong people-to-people contacts, nurtured through the millennia,” he added.
Kovind said that India’s engagement with ASEAN had come a long way since India established a dialogue partnership with ASEAN on January 28 back in 1992.
Underlining that ASEAN was India’s strategic partner, Kovind said, “We have 30 dialogue mechanisms between India and ASEAN, including annual summits and seven ministerial meetings in a wide range of sectors.”
The dignitaries
The 10 ASEAN heads of state and government who visited Rashtrapati Bhavan: Brunei’s Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Philippines President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong. Malaysian PM Najib Razak, Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Lao PDR’s PM Thongloun Sisoulith also attended the lunch.
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