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India-ASEAN summit may lay groundwork for JVs
Friday, 01 November 2002, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: The first summit between India and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh next week may mark a new chapter in inter-regional cooperation ranging from infrastructure to English teaching.
Indian officials said the landmark summit between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the ten ASEAN leaders on November 5 could pave the way for the two sides to take up joint venture infrastructure projects in the new ASEAN member countries -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Singapore and Malaysia, the most economically advanced members of the ASEAN, have already proposed to India such projects to be undertaken under the ASEAN Integration Initiative aimed at the economic integration of the four states with the rest of ASEAN as they had been following "restrictive economic reforms" before they joined the regional bloc.
"ASEAN is giving a lot of attention to integration of the four new members and India can play a role in the fields of human resource development, information technology and certain types of infrastructure projects, particularly railways, R.M. Abhyankar, secretary (Asia, North Africa), told journalists.
Teaching of English, for which there is a huge demand in the whole region, is another area where New Delhi could play a role, he added.
The summit and the visit to Laos should be seen in the overall context of New Delhi's "Look East" policy for closer political and economic cooperation with the Southeast Asian nations that has already taken the prime minister to most countries of the region in less than two years.
Vajpayee arrives in Phnom Penh on the evening of November 4 on a two-nation visit that will also take him to Laos on November 6 for the first visit by an Indian prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru's nearly five decades ago.
This will be the prime minister's second visit to Cambodia since April, when he held bilateral talks with his counterpart Hun Sen.
On arrival in Phnom Penh, Vajpayee will join the ASEAN leaders and the other three full dialogue partners -- Japan, China and South Korea - for an audience with King Norodom Sihanouk, who will host them at dinner.
Besides taking part in the summit, Vajpayee will inaugurate a textile exhibition organised by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) to highlight the common tradition of silk weaving that India and the Southeast Asian nations share and hold bilateral talks with the Cambodian prime minister, who will host dinner in his honour.
The prime minister will leave for Vientiane on November 6 on a two-day visit, during which he will hold talks with Laotian President Khamtai Siphandon and Prime Minister Sisavat Keobounphan.
The ICCR is organising an exhibition of the traditional Madhubani paintings from Bihar to coincide with Vajapyee's visit.
A number of agreements for economic cooperation and an Indian creditline, details of which are yet to be finalised, are expected to be signed between the two countries during the visit.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS