ASEAN, India promote partnership

Illustrative image (Photo: aseanbriefing)

Jakarta (VNA) – Partnership and cooperation between ASEAN and India have been increasingly consolidated, especially in trade, after three decades of establishment.

In 2022 alone, ASEAN became India's largest trade partner.

Speaking at a banquet in Jakarta celebrating India-ASEAN Friendship Year on March 14, Indian Ambassador to ASEAN Jayant N. Khobragade said two-way trade between India and ASEAN hit 133 billion USD last year, higher than that between India and other partners such as the European Union, the US and China.

He added that India-ASEAN partnership has been promoted through various activities over the past years such as the youth, music, start-up and innovation festivals and media exchanges.

According to the diplomat, such platforms were established to enable ASEAN youth communities to increase interaction, understand and deepen the spirit of ASEAN, as well as ASEAN-India friendship.

ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn, for his part, said in recent years, ASEAN and India have successfully organised a number of useful cooperation activities in various fields such as the ASEAN-India Startup Festival 2020.

He believed that these efforts are evidence of the three decades of effective, mutually beneficial, multi-dimensional cooperation supported by strong trade as well as social, cultural, and political relations between the two sides./.