(VOVworld) – The Director General of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) said that India-ASEAN relations have moved forward.

The 5th ASEAN – India strategic partnership dialogue in New Delhi, India in February, 2013 (photo: VNA)

Rajiv Bhatia wrote on the India Write Network on Monday that at meetings in Brunei’s capital Bandar Seri Begawan Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid and his counterparts of ASEAN countries expressed their delight at the increasing cooperation in the region. The article noted that trade turnover between India and ASEAN had increased 10 times over the last 10 years to 80 billion USD in 2012.
The two sides will continue to boost cooperation in the traditional fields of trade, tourism, human resource development, and agriculture, as well as seek opportunities in new areas such as the environment, renewable energy, small enterprises, and space technology. India will support ASEAN to build a stronger community by 2015. It will assist less developed members in ASEAN, including Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, and Vietnam, in information technology, education, and the teaching of English. Rajiv said meetings in Brunei and the visit by Salman Khurshid, India's Foreign Minister, to Singapore, illustrated that ASEAN partnership is the foundation of the Look East Policy which is the pillar in India’s external affairs.