The function was hosted by Indias Ambassador to the ASEAN Suresh K. Reddy, along with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Hoanh Nam, at the Indian Mission to the ASEAN in Jakarta and was attended by 200 dignitaries from the diplomatic core as well as eminent persons from ASEAN countries and the India-ASEAN diaspora.
"The Indian Mission to the ASEAN was launched officially on April 23, 2015, and we are grateful that the secretary general had jointly inaugurated the mission along with our external affairs minister. Many of you were also present on that historic day. I am glad that today the secretary general is again with us to celebrate the golden jubilee of the establishment of ASEAN and the silver jubilee of the ASEAN India Partnership," Ambassador Reddy stated in his opening address in Jakarta on Thursday evening.
The ambassador then touched on the new Act East Policy of India, which places ASEAN at the core of the mutual relationship, and highlighted the value that India invests in it, emphasizing the millennia-old cultural and civilizational links that have laid the foundation for an enduring partnership between countries of the ASEAN and India.
"2017 is also the year when India completed 25 years of its partnership with the ASEAN. In these 25 years, our historical relationship, built on centuries of connect, has become even closer. It is a successful example of how the historical connect has enabled the building of strong partnerships in the modern century," he remarked.
He also complimented the dynamism of India and ASEAN member states that has resulted in the region achieving a high economic growth rate. In particular, he referred to the demographic dividend in the form of its youth population, which itself assured that the India-ASEAN region would continue along the high trajectory of growth for a long time to come.
"India is a core supporter of the ASEAN in its efforts to spread the message of peace and prosperity in the region. Hence, it is only natural that our partnership continues to expand and reflect our mutual aspiration to establish a community that spreads from South Asia to Southeast Asia and promotes mutual progress and prosperity," he reiterated.
Additionally, the ambassador of India to the ASEAN congratulated the bloc on achieving the milestone of completing five decades of extraordinary service to the region since its establishment in 1967.
"Since its establishment in 1967, the ASEAN has transformed the region significantly. It has converted a zone of conflict and tensions into a zone of peace and stability. From a set of conflicting nations, it has slowly but steadily built a community of people spreading from Laos to Singapore and from Yangon to Manila," he stated.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
