NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday emphasised that the 21st century belongs to India and the ASEAN nations.
Delivering a virtual address to the 47th ASEAN Summit 2025, the Prime Minister also highlighted India’s vision for a shared, inclusive, and sustainable future in partnership with Southeast Asia, noting that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a major pillar of India’s Act East Policy.
In his speech, he said, “The 21st century is our century. It is India and ASEAN’s century. I am confident that the aims of ‘ASEAN Community Vision 2045’ and ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ will create a bright future for all of humanity.”
The address underlined India’s growing strategic, economic, and cultural ties with the 10-nation bloc.
The Prime Minister outlined India’s expanding cooperation with ASEAN in areas ranging from disaster response and maritime security to the blue economy.
The India-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is emerging as a strong foundation for global stability and growth, PM Modi said.
“India has always fully supported ‘ASEAN centrality’ and ASEAN’s outlook on the Indo-Pacific,” he added.
“Even in these times of uncertainty, the India-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has made steady progress. Our strong partnership is emerging as a powerful foundation for global stability and growth,” Modi said.
PM Modi noted that India has “stood firmly with its ASEAN friends” in every crisis, and two-way cooperation in maritime security and the blue economy is growing rapidly.
“In light of this, we are declaring 2026 as the ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation,” he announced.
“We are also vigorously advancing mutual cooperation in education, tourism, science and technology, health, green energy, and cybersecurity. We will continue to work together to preserve our shared cultural heritage and strengthen people-to-people ties,” he said.
Earlier, PM Modi shared details of his conversation with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Malaysia is the Chair of ASEAN for 2025, while the Philippines will assume the Chair in 2026. India began formal engagement with ASEAN in 1992 as a “Sectoral Dialogue Partner” (secretary-level interaction) and later became a “Dialogue Partner” in 1995.
ASEAN is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region, and India, along with countries including the US, China, Japan, and Australia, is a dialogue partner.
ASEAN-India dialogue relations began with a sectoral partnership in 1992, which graduated to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995 and a summit-level partnership in 2002. The ties were elevated to a strategic partnership in 2012.
Two-way relations between India and ASEAN have strengthened significantly in recent years, with a focus on boosting cooperation in trade, investment, security, and defence.