New Paper on Strengthening ASEAN-India Relations
The leaders of ASEAN and India at the 7th ASEAN-India Summit last year.
I’ve got a new paper published on how to strengthen relations between India and Southeast Asia over the next few years.
In it, I argue that given the ancient civilizational and cultural links between the two, and the potential for cooperation in various areas including in economics, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, climate change, natural disaster relief, and managing the rise of China, a more closer partnership should be forged. This would benefit not only the two parties, but the Asian region as a whole as well as interested parties like the United States.
I outline some of the current challenges with the relationship, including protectionism, economic structure and anemic people-to-people relations. I then detail what future steps could be taken toward a stronger partnership, which include (on the Indian side) reinvigorating lackluster sub-regional initiatives like the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation Initiative (MGCI), and (on the Southeast Asia side) pulling India into regional initiatives like the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization Agreement.
You can read the full version here.
Picture: The Hindu
