Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Anil Wadhwa, on Thursday said the linkages between ASEAN and India's north eastern states and communities are not just of close geographical proximity, but of blood relations.
Wadhwa said connectivity is the key to facilitating socio-cultural exchanges and an important priority that we are working on.
"India shares both a land and maritime boundary with ASEAN. The linkages between ASEAN and India's North Eastern states and communities are not just of close geographical proximity but of blood relations," said Wadhwa.
"The Tai race from Thailand has its descendants, the Ahoms, living in the north-eastern state of Assam. The Khamtis who are descendants of the Tai from Thailand and Myanmar are also found in both Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Meanwhile, the Khasis in Meghalaya are believed to have ancestral links to Thailand. As connectivity expands, so will the people-to-people exchanges along the border," he added while speaking at the inaugural session of the International Conference on "ASEAN-India Cultural Links: Historical and Contemporary Dimensions" here.
Wadhwa said India and ASEAN are today at the threshold of a qualitatively more substantive and reinvigorated relationship.
"As we work to give shape to our Plan of Action for the period 2016 to 2021, setting new goals to move the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership forward, we not only aim to strengthen the third pillar of our engagement, i.e. the socio-cultural pillar, but also wish to bring it to the forefront of our relationship," said Wadhwa.
"This conference is a direct outcome of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi's desire to expand our civilizational links with ASEAN countries as well as to document them comprehensively. I would like to thank the ASEAN India Centre at RIS for undertaking this conference at our behest," he added.
The Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs pointed out that this is the first step in the journey to establish research partnerships between universities and academics in India and ASEAN to work on producing high-quality research papers on the entire gamut of the historical and cultural links between India and South East Asia.
"We will also hold a second conference on our historical and cultural linkages in Jakarta in the coming months to take this initiative forward," he added.
Wadhwa noted that he destinies of South-East Asia and India have been linked, almost inextricably, for the past two millennia.
"As the two sides work to bolster their relationship, especially against the backdrop of India's renewed commitment to ASEAN with its action-driven and result-oriented 'Act East Policy,' we also wish to concurrently stimulate intellectual exchange on the historical and contemporary socio-cultural linkages that bind us, enabling us to acquire a better understanding of our shared heritage and histories," said Wadhwa.
"We recognise that political-security and economic cooperation between India and ASEAN must go hand in hand with better understanding between our peoples and deeper integration of our societies," he added.
"Evidence of the earliest contacts between India and its South East Asian neighbours can be traced as far back as the 1st century A.D. The Government of India is today actively involved, along with its ASEAN partners, in efforts to preserve, protect and restore many of these symbols and structures that represent the civilizational bonds between ASEAN and India," Wadhwa said.