NEW DELHI, June 23 – The Asean-India Centre (AIC), which was mooted during the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit six months ago, has been established at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said at the inauguration ceremony the centre is expected to be a key resource to assist in further defining the contours of the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership.
“In terms of its future tasks, I hope it will assist the Governments of Asean and India to make a selection, for instance, from the abundance of theoretical constructs and several studies in the last two years about the connectivity corridors and economic processes in our region,” he said.
The AIC should help the partnership to begin to put in place policies and facilitators to drive economic content on these geographic corridors so that by the time the network of roads, maritime and air links are strengthened, the dimension of their economic viability will also have been addressed, Salman said.
The establishment of the AIC was also one of the recommendations of the ASEAN-India Eminent Persons Group to further strengthen the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership.
The AIC will work to strengthen India’s cooperation with Asean in its realisation of the Asean Community by 2015 comprising the three pillars of ASEAN Political Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.
Among others, the AIC will assist in the implementation of the Asean-India connectivity agenda apart from promoting Asean-India cooperation in the interlinked areas of water, energy and food security.
– BERNAMA
