Boosting maritime security

India pushes ‘Act East’.

Boosting maritime security

WRITTEN BY C Uday Bhaskar

India and the 10-member ASEAN collective engaged in  an intensive two-day Delhi Dialogue (July 19-20) whose focus was on strengthening bilateral maritime cooperation. This annual Dialogue, now in its tenth iteration, is an extension of the summit level meeting that was held in January this year on the occasion of the Indian Republic Day, where the ASEAN heads of state/government were the special invitees.

India’s more structured engagement with the ASEAN nations began during Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s tenure in the early 1990s when the Look East policy was formulated. Successive governments have sought to impart greater content to this initiative. Over the decades, the ASEAN 5 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand ) has become a ten-nation entity with the inclusion of Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

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Source: dnaindia.com