Deepening India-ASEAN Relations: Exploring New Avenues for Engagements
Date: October 18, 2021
02:00 pm IST
Venue: Webinar
About the Webinar:
India and ASEAN historically share close and cordial ties, as well as a vibrant trade and economic relationship. India-ASEAN cooperation spans across diverse sectors including agriculture, science & technology, space, environment & climate change, human resource development, capacity building, new and renewable energy, and tourism, among others, supported by increasing people-to-people contacts and connectivity. As the pandemic-related uncertainties, as well as various trade protectionist policies, are gaining momentum, countries in the South need to enhance partnerships with trade partners to bring back their economies to the pre-Covid growth trajectories and improve their trade competitiveness. Going with the global trends, India and ASEAN, though witnessed a moderation in trade, the recent figures indicate a revival in the trade front. Moreover, as India and ASEAN economies are on their way back to normalcy, there is a need for an urgent call for action for strengthening the economic engagements between India and the ASEAN region.
The ongoing negotiations on reviewing of the ASEAN-India FTA and its effective utilisation point out the potential to further enhance our trade relationship. This requires enhanced connectivity, improvements in logistics and warehousing services as well as favorable investment policies. Enhanced financial and banking cooperation, including FinTech, support to start-ups are other mutually beneficial areas. Moreover, a deepened India-ASEAN cooperation could pave way for larger and greater Indo-Pacific cooperation. In this backdrop, the India Exim Bank, the ASEAN India Centre (AIC) at the RIS and the ASEAN India Business Council (AIBC) are jointly organizing a webinar on ‘Deepening India-ASEAN Relations: Exploring New Avenues for Engagements’ as a run-up to the 18th ASEAN-India Summit 2021. The proposed Webinar seeks to engage with key stakeholders and deliberate upon the current issues impacting India-ASEAN bilateral trade and investment, identify areas of collaboration to further expand regional trade and integration, and ways for strengthening infrastructure and connectivity in the post-Covid world.
To click, register: bit.ly/Deepening_India-ASEAN_Relations