India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar (file photo)
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar proclaimed on Thursday that India's complete support would be for a strong, unified and prosperous ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) with a central role in the Indo-Pacific. He added that both India and ASEAN must set new priorities in the case of Ukraine, PTI reported.
"ASEAN's role today is perhaps more important than ever before given the geopolitical challenges and uncertainties that the world faces. India fully supports a strong, unified and prosperous ASEAN, one whose centrality in the Indo-Pacific is fully recognised," Minister Jaishankar said. "Under the current global uncertainties, as we review our journey of the last 30 years and chart our path for the coming decades, it is important that we identify a new set of priorities while ensuring the early realisation of our ongoing initiatives," he added.
The foreign minister was delivering his opening address at a special meeting of foreign ministers of ASEAN and India in Delhi. There he mentioned the "geopolitical headwinds" triggered by the Ukraine crisis, which impacted food, energy security, prices of fertilisers and commodities, logistics and supply chains.
"This path has become even more arduous with geopolitical headwinds which we face due to developments in Ukraine and its knock-on effects on food and energy security, as well as fertiliser and commodities prices, and logistics and supply chain disruptions," he said.
India is hosting the 30th anniversary of its ties with the ASEAN, a ten-nation international organisation comprising Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar-
Meanwhile, Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan came down on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. He said that such actions of certain nations could destabilise "the system of peace and stability which we have depended on for the basis of our growth, development and prosperity over many decades."
Country coordinator for India, Vivian Balakrishnan, stated that Russia's move has "upended the international system of rules and norms and international law which we all depend on".
In the case of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jaishankar stated that the disease has not yet abated fully, and there is still a long way to go.
Jaishankar praised that ASEAN had always been proud as a "beacon of regionalism, multilateralism and globalisation", and it has provided room for the evolution of strategic and economic architecture in the Indo-Pacific region. There is strong convergence between ASEAN's Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), proving that both the sides shatter similar views on the region, he said
The minister went on to say that both sides are anchored in history, nurtured by the common ethos and have withstood the test of time, growing stronger with each passing decade. "As we enter the fourth decade of our relationship, our ties too must respond to the world we confront. A better connected India and ASEAN would be well-positioned to promote decentralised globalisation and resilient and reliable supply chains that are so needed by the international community," he said.
Believed as one of the most influential organisations in the region, ASEAN's ties with India started in 1992 as a sectoral partnership. It became a full dialogue partnership in December 1995, and in 2002, it became a level partnership. The Indian ties with ASEAN became a strategic partnership in 2012.