Special ASEAN - India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (SAIFMM) marking 30 years of dialogue relations. (Photo: asean.org)

The Special ASEAN - India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (SAIFMM) is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on June 16 and 17 as part of activities marking 30 years of dialogue relations between the two sides.

Highlighting the sound connections between India and 10 ASEAN countries, Ambassador Chau said ASEAN has dialogue relations with many countries, and India is a very important partner.

According to the diplomat, bilateral ties have been growing in all aspects. First, economic and trade links have been increasing fast, which can been seen in Vietnam’s trade with India surging to almost 13 billion USD at present from about 200 million USD in 2000.

The second is on security and politics with both sharing many similar viewpoints on international and regional issues, especially the East Sea issue and the Indo-Pacific vision, he said, elaborating that India supports ASEAN’s centrality, both sides attach great importance to law respect and law adherence, and they also wish to build a region of peace, stability, and development, as well as a free, open, and international law-based Indo-Pacific region.

Third, most of the ASEAN countries and India advocate peace and justice when it comes to international issues. Fourth, they have been cooperating closely in science - technology and education.

The fifth is connectivity cooperation, especially in air and road transport, he noted, expressed hope for a road from New Delhi through northeastern India, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos to Hanoi in the future.

The last but not least is people-to-people exchange. The number of ASEAN and Indian visitors to each other’s destinations has been on the rise, while Indian people living in Southeast Asia are also increasing, which reflects the close-knit ties between the two sides, he added.