As the website of the Pridi Banomyong International College (PBIC), Thammasat University, Tha Prachan campus has announced, on Friday, 9 October 2020 from 1:30pm to 3pm, a PBIC Academic Talk will be presented on the subject of the relationship between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the present century.
This event should be useful for students interested in political science, history, ASEAN studies, and related subjects.
The speakers will be Dr. Mohammad Faheem, Head of the Indian Studies Program, PBIC, and Professor Jaran Maluleem, Ph.D., of the Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University.
The Thammasat University Library collection includes a number of books about the relationship between India and the ASEAN community.
The TU Library also owns a copy of Ajarn Jaran’s book The Coming of Islam to Thailand.
It is shelved in the Professor Direk Jayanama Library, Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University, Tha Prachan campus.
The PBIC Academic Talk will take place at the PBIC Meeting Room and may also be viewed on the Facebook page of PBIC Thammasat.
TU students wishing to attend the event are welcome to register at this link.
Those wishing to prepare for the discussion may find it helpful to consult the official ASEAN website, which offers detailed information about the rapport between India and ASEAN nations:
ASEAN-India dialogue relations have grown rapidly from a sectoral dialogue partnership in 1992 to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995. The relationship was further elevated with the convening of the ASEAN-India Summit in 2002 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since then the ASEAN-India Summit has been held annually. All these took place in a decade, which clearly signifies the importance of the dialogue partnership to ASEAN and India and the progress made in the cooperation. At the 13th ASEAN-India Summit held in Kuala Lumpur on 21 November 2015, the ASEAN Leaders welcomed India’s initiative, namely the “Act East Policy” and noted that the initiatives could complement ASEAN Community building efforts. In that regard, the ASEAN Leaders encouraged India to work with ASEAN to realise the vision and goals outlined in the ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together.
As a reflection of the interest of ASEAN and India to intensify their engagement, the ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity, which sets out the roadmap for long-term ASEAN-India engagement, was signed at the 3rd ASEAN-India Summit on 30 November 2004 in Vientiane, Lao PDR. A Plan of Action (2004-2010) was also developed to implement the Partnership. The 7th ASEAN-India Summit held in October 2009 noted with satisfaction the steady progress of implementation of the ASEAN–India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity. The Summit also agreed on a new and more enhanced phase of the Plan of Action to implement the said Partnership in order to seize the opportunities and overcome the challenges arising from the global financial crisis and evolving political and economic landscape. The ASEAN-India Plan of Action (POA) for 2010-2015 was developed and adopted by the Leaders at the 8th ASEAN-India Summit in October 2010 in Ha Noi. Subsequently, the POA for 2016-2020 was adopted by the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN and India at the PMC Plus One Session with India on 5 August 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to succeed the POA 2010-2015. The POA 2016-2020 spells out and sets the course of joint actions, practical cooperation and concrete projects and activities. It comprises broad areas, namely political and security, economic, socio-cultural cooperation, connectivity and Initiative for ASEAN Integration and Narrowing the Development Gap. Projects and activities conducted under the POA 2016-2020 include annual meetings/visits, seminars/workshops, training courses and exchange programmes. Political and Security Cooperation
Since India became a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN, the collaboration has transcended the realm of functional cooperation to cover political and security As of August 2020 2 dimensions. India participates in a series of consultative meetings with ASEAN under the ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations, which include Summit, ministerial and senior officials meetings, and meetings at experts level, as well as dialogue and cooperation frameworks initiated by ASEAN such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) 10+1, the East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus as well as sub-regional cooperation frameworks, namely Mekong-Ganga Cooperation and Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), which contribute to enhancing regional dialogue and accelerating regional integration.
In demonstrating its commitment and shared interest to ensuring peace, security, stability and development in Southeast Asia, India acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) on 8 October 2003 during the 2nd ASEAN-India Summit in Bali, Indonesia. On the same occasion, ASEAN and India also signed a Joint Declaration for Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism, symbolising concrete initiatives to step up cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
ASEAN and India marked the 20th anniversary of their Dialogue Relations in 2012 with a Commemorative Summit held in India on 20 December 2012. A number of commemorative activities were carried out to signify the expanding and deepening of the dialogue partnership. In this connection, the ASEAN-India Eminent Persons group (EPG) was established to take stock of ASEAN-India relations over the past 20 years, explore ways and recommend measures to strengthen and deepen existing ASEAN-India cooperation and partnership in the future. In 2017, ASEAN and India commemorated the 25th Anniversary of their Dialogue Relations with a number of meaningful celebratory events, including high-level meetings, business conclaves and Expo, youth summit, artist camp, music festivals, youth awards, among others. ASEAN and India convened ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit to mark the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations on 25 January 2018 in New Delhi, India. At this Commemorative Summit, the Leaders adopted Delhi Declaration which charts out the future direction of ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership…
In the areas of agriculture and forestry, cooperation between ASEAN and India has been enhanced further by focusing on addressing challenges of food security and climate change through capacity building, agricultural education, and research and development. The Medium Term Plan of Action (POA) for ASEAN India Cooperation in Agriculture and Forestry (2016-2020) was endorsed at the 4th ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry (AIMMAF), held in January 2018 in New Delhi, India. Both sides were encouraged to focus on the implementation of the POA, particularly on (i) Networking and cooperation between government authorities concerned, (ii) Investment, capacity building, sharing of information, experience and best practices, research and development, agricultural technology, management and innovation, (iii) Cooperation in implementing the ASEAN Integrated Food Security (AIFS) Framework, the Strategic Plan of Action on Food Security in the ASEAN Region (SPA-FS) 2015-2020 (iv) Enhanced resilience of natural systems and improve the adaptive capacities of human communities to cope with environmental hazards, and (v) Climate change and its adverse impacts on socio-economic development, health and the environment in ASEAN and India. Socio-Cultural Cooperation
Over the years, ASEAN-India socio-cultural cooperation has expanded to include human resource development, people-to-people contacts, education, health, biodiversity, climate change and disaster management. All cooperation projects are funded by the ASEAN-India Fund and ASEAN-India Green Fund.
India is also actively contributing to the implementation of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Work Plans with the implementation of some of the IAI projects/activities, such as Scholarship for Students from CLMV Countries for TwoYear Masters Programme at Nalanda University, the Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDC) and the Centres for the English Language Training (CELT) in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam.
In continuing to promote people-to-people contacts to foster ASEAN-India relations at the individual level, ASEAN and India continue to organise regular programmes/activities, namely ASEAN-India Students Exchange Programmes, Special Course for ASEAN Diplomats, Delhi Dialogue, International Conference on ASEAN-India Cultural and Civilizational Links, ASEAN-India Media Exchange Programme, ASEAN-India Young Farmers Exchange Programme, ASEAN-India Youth Summit and the ASEAN-India Network of Think-Tanks, among others.
ASEAN and India are also exploring cooperation in other areas, including finance, energy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and natural resource management.
A Plan of Action to Implement The ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity (2021-2025) is aimed at further strengthening ASEAN-India connections.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)