The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) comprises of Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam.
ASEAN shares land borders with India, China, Bangladesh, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea, and maritime borders with India, China, Palau, and Australia.
ASEAN plus Three was created to improve existing ties with the People's Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea.
ASEAN became ASEAN Plus Six with additional countries: Australia, New Zealand and India. Even larger East Asia Summit (EAS), included ASEAN plus Three countries as well as India, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Russia.
Apart from ASEAN, India has taken other policy initiatives in the region that involve some members of ASEAN like BIMSTEC, MGC etc. India is also an active participant in several regional forums like the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting + (ADMM+) and Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum (EAMF).
India's relationship with ASEAN is a key pillar of our foreign policy and the foundation of our Act East Policy. 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.
Recent Developments
India and ASEAN observed 25 years of their Dialogue Partnership, 15 years of Summit Level interaction and 5 years of Strategic Partnership throughout 2017 by undertaking a wide range of over 60 commemorative activities, both in India and through India’s Missions in ASEAN Member States, which culminated in the “ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit on the theme "Shared Values, Common Destiny” on 25 January 2018 in New Delhi”.
The “4th ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture” was held in January 2018 in New Delhi, with the endorsement of the Medium Term Plan of Action for ASEAN-India Cooperation in Agriculture and Forestry for 2016–2020.
The “2nd edition of the ASEAN-India Workshop on Blue Economy”, jointly hosted with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which was held on 18 July 2018 in New Delhi.
The “10th edition of Delhi Dialogue” was hosted by the MEA on 19-20 July 2018 in New Delhi, with the theme, "Strengthening India-ASEAN Maritime Advantage".
