Forth edition of Indo-ASEAN meets today in Delhi

In a bid to strengthen mutual relationship between India and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), a two-day meeting of higher delegates is set to begin today in New Delhi. This is the fourth edition of Indo-ASEAN meets, scheduled to boost greater involvement in economic, security and capacity-building sector.

The theme of this forth edition meet is: 'India and ASEAN: Partners for Peace, Progress and Stability.' The first meeting began in 2009, targeting to fillip 'Look-East' policy of India.

In this Indo-ASEAN meeting 2012, ministers, political leaders, policymakers, senior officials, diplomats, business leaders, think-tanks, academics and high level delegates of all the 10 countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam - are likely to meet to Indian counterparts in the leadership of Union External Affair Minister S M Krishna in the capital of India this evening.

According to sources, the event has been divided into four thematic sessions where a high-level dialogue on Economic integration, non-traditional security challenge, regional security and evolving security, networks of knowledge and science and capacity-building issues will be discussed in two-day meeting.

S M Krishna will inaugurate the meeting while former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalaam is schedule to give Valedictory Address tomorrow.

Apart from marking 20 years of the ASEAN-India dialogue partnership, 2012 also marks 10 years of Summit level partnership between the two.