PM holds bilateral meetings on ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit eve

On the eve of the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit (AICS) marking 25 years of India-ASEAN partnership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held separate bilateral meetings with Myanmar State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Philippines President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Modi welcomed the three leaders to India for their participation in the Summit and also for accepting the invitation to be the chief guests at the Republic Day celebrations on 26th January this year.

During the meeting of Prime Minister Modi with Suu Kyi, discussions were held on various issues of mutual interest and ways of further strengthening our bilateral relations, including follow up on key decisions taken during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Myanmar in September 2017.

In the meeting with Prime Minister Phuc, the two leaders expressed satisfaction at the growth of bilateral relations between the two countries within the framework of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including in the fields of maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, defence, oil and gas, trade and investment.

The leaders also agreed that the two agreements signed during this visit viz., on cooperation in the fields of Information & Broadcasting and on the establishment of tracking and data reception station and data processing facility in Vietnam under the ASEAN-India Space Cooperation would give a further boost to India-Vietnam relations.

They expressed satisfaction at operationalisation of the Line of Credit of USD 100 million under which L&T has been awarded a contract for the manufacture of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs). They decided that the other Line of Credit of USD 500 million be operationalised soon.

During the meeting with President Duterte, the two leaders reviewed the progress in bilateral relations and in global and regional situation since their meeting in Manila in November 2017.

It was agreed to give further momentum to cooperation between the two countries, particularly in the field of infrastructure development.

They also agreed that under India's Act East Policy and the Philippines' Build-Build-Build Programme, there are several areas for cooperation between private sectors of the two countries. The two leaders further witnessed the exchange of a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between Invest India and Board of Investments of the Philippines.

In all the three meetings, the visiting dignitaries underscored the importance of ASEAN-India relations for peace, security and socio-economic development in the Indo-Pacific region, and looked forward to the deliberations in the AICS.