AICS to be held in New Delhi, meet to commemorate silver jubilee of ASEAN-India dialogue partnership

New Delhi: The ASEAN-India Connectivity Summit (AICS) will be held in New Delhi on 11-12 December, and will be attended by senior ministers from India and ASEAN countries, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_4251027” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of the ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting in Manila, Philippines. Reuters[/caption] The theme of the meeting is ‘Powering Digital and Physical Linkages for Asia in the 21st Century’. The summit would be attended by Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road, Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation; Communications Minister Manoj Sinha; Ministers of State in the External Affairs Ministry VK Singh and MJ Akbar; and Preeti Saran, Secretary (East), MEA. From ASEAN, Phan Tam, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, Vietnam, Tauch Chankosal, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport of Cambodia would be attending the summit. The AICS would be bringing together policymakers, senior officials from the government, investors, industry leaders, representatives of trade associations and entrepreneurs on the same platform, the ministry said in a statement. “The AICS aims to accelerate existing connectivity prospects, identify issues of concern, evolve suitable policy recommendations and develop strategies to enhance economic, industrial and trade relations between ASEAN and India. Its focus areas are infrastructure, roadways, shipping, digital, finance, energy and aviation,” a statement by the MEA said.