India-ASEAN Delhi Dialogue to be held on 4 July; Vietnam, Singapore ministers on guest list

New Delhi: Deputy prime minister of Vietnam Pham Binh Minh and Singapore’s senior minister of state for defence and foreign affairs Maliki Bin Osman will be among the leaders who will attend the ninth India-ASEAN ministerial dialogue on 4 July with an aim to intensify and broaden political, strategic and economic cooperation in the region. [caption id=“attachment_2993796” align=“alignleft” width=“379”] File image of Asean-India summit. AP[/caption] Also known as Delhi Dialogue, the conference has emerged as an important forum in which political leaders, policy makers, researchers, academicians, business leaders and media persons converge for brainstorming on a range of issues pertaining to ASEAN-India relations. Coming in the backdrop of evolving security and economic scenario in the region, the meet will also provide an opportunity to leaders to explore ways to boost cooperation in these key areas and also in the field of connectivity and tourism. Relationship with the ASEAN grouping is one of the cornerstones of India’s foreign policy and Act East Policy, which has deepened across the three pillars of politico-security, economic and socio-cultural cooperation. ASEAN-India dialogue relations have grown rapidly from a sectoral dialogue partnership in 1992 to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995. The relationship was further elevated with the convening of the ASEAN-India Summit in 2002 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since then the ASEAN-India Summit has been held annually. The leaders are also expected to have bilateral meetings with the leadership here. Apart from Singapore and Vietnam, the other ASEAN countries are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand.