HYDERABAD: The inaugural ceremony of the four-day “4th Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) - India Youth Summit” was inaugurated by Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy at Leonia Resorts in Shamirpet on Sunday.
As many as 160 delegates from various South East Asian (SEA) countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, in addition to around 60 delegates from across India participated on the first day of the summit. Deliberations on various areas of common interest between the ASEAN will be held from Monday.
Speaking on the occasion, Kishan said that India is proud to have been in a glorious partnership with ASEAN for 30 years, ever since the Look-East Policy was formulated in the 1990s.
He said that India shared common interests and values with ASEAN with respect to peace and security in the region, inclusive regional framework, which also included the deep cultural and spiritual bonds that came from the Buddhist philosophy which has its roots in India, common themes from the Hindu epics of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the shared roots of the Sanskrit and Tamil languages, and symbiotic dependence on the monsoons.
Kishan spoke about the various connections which India had with each of the ASEAN countries, in terms of spirituality, religion and worship, the ancient names of some cities of those countries named in Sanskrit, among others.
Detailing the “Act-East Policy” of PM Narendra Modi, Kishan said that the policy was anchored around the “3Cs- Commerce, Connectivity, and Culture,” for strengthening collective engagement. He said that India’s total trade with ASEAN was $42.3 billion or approximately 10 per cent of its global trade in 2021-22.
ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn, who virtually addressed the event, underscored the need for the youth to play a greater role to bring desirable changes to the Indo-Pacific region to ensure global peace.