India-ASEAN Ties
By Dr. D.K. Giri
(Prof of Practice, NIIS Group of Institutions)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called 2026 as the year of ASEAN-India Maritime Cooperation. Addressing virtually the 22nd ASEAN Summit held in Kuala Lumpur on 26 October, he added that ‘ASEAN is the main pillar of India’s Act East Policy’ and a powerful foundation of global stability and growth.
The theme of this year’s conference was inclusivity and sustainability. India took the opportunity to emphasise collective efforts for international development. In his speech, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said that there should be zero tolerance of terrorism anywhere; it poses “a continuous and corrosive threat”. He repeated his favourite concept of multipolarity which he said was here to stay. But it is another matter which are the pillars of power in a multipolar world.
Quite a few decisions were taken as they happen in such summits. The frontrunning pact was the maritime cooperation. It is significant for India to deepen this cooperation as ASEAN countries have major maritime routes that is vital for trade and commerce; particularly the Malacca Strait through which India’s 80 per cent energy imports transit. This cooperation consists of four areas of activities; maritime security, blue economy, HADR – Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, and connectivity infrastructure.
Second, since the focus was on accelerated economic integration, India-ASEAN signed AITIGA – ASEAN-Indian Trade in Goods Agreement. India felt the urgency to push this as India’s trade deficit with ASEAN was growing. It was 43.57b USD in 2022-23 compared to 9.66b USD in 2016-17. ASEAN remains the fourth largest trading partner of India with 11 per cent of India’s global trade.
Additionally, the existing review of the Agreement aims to enhance trade facilitation, simplifying customs procedures, addressing non-tariff barriers and exploring new opportunities in services and investment sector.
Third, the Prime Minister offered a host of fresh initiatives to strengthen the ties. He extended support for the implementation of ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which included among other areas, cooperation in tourism as both celebrate 2025 as the Year of Tourism; training of 400 professionals in renewable energy, particularly supporting the ASEAN Power Grid Initiative, a South-East Asian University Studies at Nalanda University in order to develop regional expertise, holding the East Asia Summit Maritime Heritage Festival in Gujarat and a conference on maritime security cooperation.
The Action-Plan 2026-30 builds on the 10-point agenda announced at the 21st ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Laos 2024. The Action Plan is meant to translate these commitments into a detailed modus operandi with timelines and deliverables.
Fourth, India’s core strength on digitalisation was reflected on expanding collaboration on Digital Public Infrastructure – cross-border payment systems and Fintech solutions. India’s UPI model, the Unified Payment system has generated interest across the developing world including ASEAN countries. The ASEAN-India Fund for Digital Future will be harnessed in this venture which include cooperation on AI, block chain technology, for supply chain management and digital health platforms.
In strategic terms, India-ASEAN partnership assumes significance as South-East Asian countries are caught in the crossfire between Washington and Beijing on trade tension and hegemonic competition. India offers them some cushion as a stabilizer.
Many countries and regional blocs expect India to be the third market and an economic and political power. Whether India is progressing fast to meet that expectation is a matter of debate. But, as the biggest country and with a functional democracy growing to that status will be slower, unlike China which has been a centralized market economy and USA a big military power.
That said, India and ASEAN have considerable convergence of interests. There are strong cultural ties with majority of South-East Asian countries which is a powerful base for people-to-people connection. India has unwaveringly supported ASEAN as an important partner in the region with a combined GDP over 3 trillion USD. ASEAN offers India’s business crucial opportunities for investment, market access and supply chain option as an alternative to China-centric trade and economy. In the continuing power rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region, India-ASEAN partnership presents an alternative model of bilateralism based on strategic autonomy and shared prosperity and security.
Organisationally, ASEAN added Timor-Leste making it the 11th member, plus the regional partners consisting of Australia, China, India, South Korea, Russia and the United States. There was unanimous approval of and welcome to Timor-Leste, a small country that broke away from Indonesia after a long struggle for independence.
As for India, the relationship is steadily growing. It became a dialogue partner in 1995, which was upgraded to summit level. The proximity and expectations between India and ASEAN seem to be increasingly matching.
Therefore, observers contend that Modi, giving the summit a conspicuous miss could be a lost opportunity for India. Other big global powers like China and US perhaps made greater impact represented by the heads of their respective countries.
The reasons attributed to his absence are, India-US trade tensions, Malaysia, the host of the summit extending diplomatic support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. The buzz in the media earlier on was that Prime Minister of Malaysia was arranging a bilateral between Trump and Modi which perhaps did not materialise. There could be two interpretations of his absence. One, Modi wanted to express his displeasure to his friend Trump for not reciprocating all that support he had extended to him during his second term election and otherwise.
Second, without a chance of meeting Trump personally, it would have been embarrassing or widened the personal distance. But even a handshake or exchange of greetings in person, would have perhaps thawed the tension. Modi does prioritise personal proximity and warmth on building international relations.
Perhaps, Trump will warm up again if he managed to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. He had made a specific promise on that and was expecting the Noble Peace prize. It is a missed opportunity on Trump’s legacy term as the President. That is why he is not happy with Modi for not supporting him.
All in all, except Prime Minister Modi’s absence, the summit has been of great possibilities and opportunities for India as well as ASEAN. However, as is said ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’. Therefore, how India is implementing its Act-East Policy will determine the way ahead. — INFA