NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today that various capacity-building projects have been undertaken through the ASEAN-India funds.
Currently, there are three cooperation funds -- ASEAN-India Fund, ASEAN-India Green Fund and ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund.
Addressing the India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit here, Modi said there has been excellent progress in implementing the objective of the ASEAN-India partnership for peace, progress and shared prosperity through a five-year plan of actions.
"The progress in implementing our third action plan for the period of 2016-2020 is commendable. Capacity-building projects have been undertaken through the ASEAN-India cooperation Fund, the ASEAN-India Green Fund and the ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund," he said.
At the 7th ASEAN-India Summit in 2009, India had announced a contribution of USD 50 million to the ASEAN-India Fund, to support the implementation of plans of action, which envisage cooperation in a range of sectors in the political, economic and socio-cultural spheres.
Projects worth about USD 48 million are under various stages of implementation or processing, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
Modi had proposed enhancing the ASEAN-India Fund with an additional grant of USD 50 million at the 14th summit in September 2016.
At the 6th ASEAN-India Summit in November 2007 in Singapore, India announced the setting up of an ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund with a USD 1 million contribution to promote joint collaborative R&D projects in the sector.
This fund became operational in 2009-10 and expenditure began to be incurred from the financial year 2010-11.
This fund has been enhanced to USD 5 million from 201617. Projects worth USD 0.67 million are already under implementation and new projects are being identified.
At the 6th ASEAN-India Summit on 21 November 2007 in Singapore, India announced the setting up of an ASEAN-India Green Fund with an initial contribution of USD 5 million from India, to support collaboration activities relating to the environment and climate change.
Some of the areas identified for collaboration under the fund are climate change, energy efficiency, clean technologies, renewable energy, biodiversity conservation and environmental education.
Projects worth USD 1.97 million covered under this fund are currently at the implementation stage.
The ASEAN comprises 10 south-east Asian states Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Laos and Brunei.
Modi said the ASEAN-India business council meeting, the Startup festival and Hackathon have shown encouraging results.
He hoped that the 'project development fund' and quick impact project will help the companies integrate into the regional value chain, particularly in textile and garment, pharmaceuticals, agro-processing and electronics.
He said people to people contact has been the foundation of close ties for hundreds of years.
Stating that the Indian diaspora has settled far and wide in Southeast Asia, he added they are warmly accepted in the local community.
"Earlier this month, the ASEAN-India Pravasi Bhartiya Divas in Singapore recognised their contribution in forging closer ties between us. While at the same time in New Delhi, at the first conference of members of Parliament and mayors with Indian heritage... there was a lot of representation from the ASEAN countries," he said.
To build on the historical bonds, Modi proposed to declare 2019 as ASEAN-India year of tourism.
"We could set up tangible and intangible heritage circuits to further promote tourism. The Buddhist tourism circuit could be an important part of this to attract tourist and pilgrims from our region," he said.
Modi said it was a privilege for India to play a role in conservation works of temples in Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR and Vietnam.
"To further empower our youth in our region, I have the pleasure to announce 1,000 fellowships to students and researchers from ASEAN countries for studying integrated PHD programmes in IIT, India's premier institution of imparting knowledge," he said.
He said India would also like to offer dedicated courses at the Indian Academy of Highway Engineers for ASEAN highway professionals.
"I also propose to set up a network of universities and encourage greater inter-universities exchanges," he said.