18th ASEAN-India Summit

In news- Recently the Indian Prime Minister attended the 18th Asean-India Summit via video conferencing.

Key updates-

This Summit reviewed the status of Asean-India Strategic Partnerships & also reviewed the progress made in key areas including Covid-19 and Health, Trade and Commerce, Connectivity, and Education and Culture.
This summit was chaired by the Sultan of Brunei.
The summit theme was “We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper”

During his address, the Prime Minister pointed out that the year 2022 will complete three decades of India-Asean partnership and this milestone will be celebrated as the ‘Asean-India Friendship Year’.
He also addressed the 16th East Asia Summit a day before this summit, where he reaffirmed India’s focus on a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and the principle of Asean Centrality in the region.
The summit is held every year and provides an opportunity for India and Asean to engage at the highest level.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN)-

ASEAN was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Brunei Darussalam (1984), VietNam (1995), Lao PDR and Myanmar (1997), and Cambodia (1999), joined the ASEAN later.
Its fundamental Principles are derived from Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, 1976.

The ASEAN charter entered into force in 2008 and became the legally binding agreement.
ASEAN community consists of 3 pillars: Political-security community, Economic community, Socio-cultural community.
The United States became a Dialogue Partner country of ASEAN in 1977.

In 1994, ASEAN took the lead in establishing the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which now has 27 members and meets each year at the ministerial level.

The up-gradation of the relationship into a Strategic Partnership in 2012 was a natural progression to the ground covered since India became a Sectoral Partner of the ASEAN in 1992, Dialogue Partner in 1996 and Summit Level Partner in 2002.
ASEAN is India’s fourth largest trading partner.
The ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) is the highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism in ASEAN.
The ADMM+ brings together Defence Ministers from the 10 ASEAN nations plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia, and the United States on a biannual basis.

The East Asia Summit-

It is a premier leaders-led forum for discussions on important strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific.
It was started in 2005.
It has played an important part in the strategic and geopolitical evolution of East Asia.
Besides the 10 Asean member countries, the East Asia Summit includes India, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia (in total 18 members).
The EAS calendar culminates in the annual Leaders’ Summit, which is usually held alongside ASEAN Leaders’ meetings in the fourth quarter of every year.
It is also an important platform for furthering practical cooperation in the Indo-Pacific by building upon the convergence between ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and Indo-Pacific Ocean’s Initiative (IPOI).