NEW DELHI, India, Feb. 14 —There’s no doubt that India which is the second most populous county in the world with a soaring 1.22 billion people is becoming a power to reckon with in South Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) who look up to it for help in meeting the challenges and opportunities facing this part of the globe.
Speaking at the Delhi Dialogue lV on Monday at the Taj Hotel, Thailand’s minister of foreign affairs, Surapong Tovichakchaikul confirmed this when he said it is widely acknowledged that this 21st century belongs to Asia and we—India and the ASEAN—will be engines of global economic growth.
Saying that India has become a key partner in the ASEAN-centered regional architecture, Tovichakchaikul said in his speech that ASEAN-India relation this year is marked with economic dynamism which he believes to be a strong foundation for a forward-looking and inclusive economic growth to help ASEAN to be more open, prosperous, peaceful and stable.
As one of the world’s fastest economies, the ASEAN with its single market and production base of 600 million people has produced a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$ 1.8 trillion, according to Tovichakchaikul who further explained that ASEAN and India have created an integrated market of 1.8 billion people with a combined GDP of US$ 3.6 trillion or 5.7 percent of the world’s GDP.
At present, India is continuing its role in development of transport linkages within ASEAN, including road, rails, air, sea links to the master plan on ASEAN connectivity (MPAC) where member countries have a common agenda to create a seamless connectivity between the two regions.
The Thai foreign affairs minister also spoke of both parties focusing to accelerate the completion of the Thai-Myanmar-India Trilateral Highway and the creation of an eastward highway to Laos and Cambodia as well as another project to connect India-Myanmar-Laos-Cambodia-Viet Nam.
On Thailand’s part, it is building roads, and rails to the Thai-Myanmar border to eventually link up the Dawei Deep seaport.
Once completed, the Dawei Deep Seaport would transport the port into a trading hub linking Southeast Asia with the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and Africa.
