Posted date: May 16, 2022
On Thursday & Friday, 12 – 13 May 2022, CICP and the ASEAN-India Center (AIC) co-organized the 7th Roundtable of ASEAN-India Network of Think-Tanks (AINTT) in Phnom Penh and New Delhi, and via Webex.
During the roundtable, we were able to comprehend the views on ASEAN – India relations from H.E. Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh – Minister of States External Affairs of India, Amb. Pou Sothirak – Executive Director of CICP, H.E. Dr. Kung Phoak – the Secretary of States of Cambodia, Dr. Mohan Kumar – the Chairman of RIS, and Prof. Sachin Chaturvedi – Director General of RIS in the opening session.
Moreover, the roundtable was participated by many experts from both India and ASEAN countries with the key takeaways as follow:
- ASEAN-India cooperation is vital for the current economic recovery that could incentivize more MSMEs participation and SDG implementation. Moreover, ASEAN and India have common health collaborations in the pharmaceutical sector to tackle the global pandemics, and especially in the sustainable development and recovery to cope with current and future challenges.
- However, ASEAN and India need to closely cooperate and review many areas such as trade agreements, accessibility of economic activity, and pharmaceutical collaboration to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The session also covered the importance of having further cooperation between ASEAN and India on technology and innovation, further engagement in the sub-regional cooperation, the political-security collaboration within the region, and needed for more people-to-people connectivity between two partners.
- The need for more proactive and effective actions between ASEAN countries and India on mutual trust and their agreements is prominent to deliver tangible achievements and foster broader relations, and pave the way for ASEAN-India relations.
