NEW DELHI, 5 October 2003 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee leaves today for Indonesia and Thailand as part of India’s “Look East” policy aimed at boosting all-around ties with ASEAN countries.
Vajpayee will first engage the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping in the Indonesian resort of Bali and fly from there to Bangkok for meetings with Thai leaders.
While in Bali, the Indian prime minister will also meet leaders of Indonesia and China in an effort to cement bilateral relations in a new world order dominated by the politics of globalization.
Vajpayee will attend the ninth ASEAN summit on Oct. 8 as well as the second India-ASEAN summit. India is a full dialogue partner of ASEAN, an economically strong union with which New Delhi has begun to deepen its ties in recent years.
This will be the second major trip abroad in less than a fortnight for Vajpayee, who returned late last month from New York where he met US President George W. Bush and addressed the UN General Assembly.
On the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Bali, Vajpayee will have bilateral meetings with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri as well as the Chinese leadership.
According to Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, India will sign a framework agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation with ASEAN aimed at boosting economic and business ties with the grouping.
“This will be the real gain of the Vajpayee visit,” an Indian official said. “This agreement lays down the road map for FTA (Free Trade Agreement).”
Along with China, India will also accede to the ASEAN treaty on amity and cooperation, an intra-ASEAN pact of 1976, and also sign a joint declaration on counterterrorism with the influential Asian grouping.
Sibal maintained that India was proud of its growing ties with ASEAN.
“We have no differences with ASEAN. And we don’t foresee any differences in the future.”
India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992 and four years later a full dialogue partner as well as a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum.
Last year, the India-ASEAN relations were raised to a summit level. The Bali meeting will be the second ASEAN-Indian summit.
Vajpayee is the first prime minister from India after P.V. Narasimha Rao to visit Thailand since 1993 on a bilateral journey. He will be the first foreign leader to address the National Assembly of Thailand.
Besides meeting the king of Thailand, Vajpayee will have discussions with his Thai counterpart Thaksin Shinawatra.
During the trip, India and Thailand will sign five memorandums of understanding, including on tourism, agricultural science, visas, bio-technology and free trade area between India and Thailand.
Trade between India and Thailand crossed the $1 billion mark last year, and stood at $700 million in the first six months of this year. “If the momentum is kept, it will see a major leap over last year,” said Sibal.
“We will have a wide-ranging dialogue with Thailand on issues covering terrorism and money laundering, IT and science and technology,” Foreign Secretary Sibal said.
India to Send Back Eight Pakistani Boys Who Strayed Across Border
India has released eight Pakistani boys, many of whom unknowingly strayed across the border and were languishing in a juvenile home in the northern state of Punjab, it was reported yesterday.
The boys were detained for several months and finally brought to the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi to be sent home, the Asian Age newspaper reported.
