Asean, India to celebrate silver jubilee of partnership in 2018

Singapore

THE year 2018 is a significant one for the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) and India. It marks their 25 years of dialogue partnership, 15 years of summit-level interaction and five years of strategic partnership.

Singapore - the Asean chair for 2018 - is hosting two major events in January, ahead of a commemorative summit that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host later in the month which will be attended by all 10 Asean leaders. These two high-profile events, both organised by the High Commission of India here, are a first for Singapore.

The India-Singapore/Asean Entrepreneurship Bridge - or InSpreneur for short - will be held on Jan 5 and 6 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre at Marina Bay Sands (MBS). This conference will focus on startups, fintech, cybersecurity, and disruptive technologies in manufacturing, among other subjects.

Apart from various panel discussions, the startups in attendance will get the opportunity to make pitches to potential investors and interact with other startups in curated "speed dating" sessions. InSpreneur will culminate in the launch of the India-Singapore/Asean Startup Portal.

According to the latest programme, the list of speakers at InSpreneur includes India's Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister (Industry) S Iswaran, and DBS Group chief executive officer Piyush Gupta.

Jawed Ashraf, the High Commissioner of India to Singapore, said he expects Indian startups to tap Singapore's investor community, develop links with their counterparts in Singapore and expand their wings across Asean.

"Equally, the other objective is to support our efforts to promote India as a global destination for startups and fintech companies and attract Singapore's excellent startup community to India," he said.

The second day of InSpreneur coincides with the start of the two-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), an annual event to recognise the contributions of the overseas Indian community in the development of India.

More than 2,500 people have already signed up for the Asean-India PBD, which has the theme "Ancient Route, New Journey: Diaspora in the Dynamic Asean-India Partnership". It will also be held at MBS.

Mr Ashraf said the Jan 6-7 event aims to highlight the "ancient human, maritime, cultural, commercial and religious links" between India and South-east Asia; as well as to promote greater economic, cultural and diplomatic cooperation between India and South-east Asian nations.

The event will also showcase the Indian diaspora's talent and achievements and deepen their emotional and economic links with India, he added.

Among those scheduled to speak at the Asean-India PBD are India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, outgoing Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy dean Kishore Mahbubani, and Singapore Exchange president Muthukrishnan Ramaswami.

The celebrations continue later in January in New Delhi when the leaders of all 10 Asean member states, including Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, attend India's 69th Republic Day on Jan 26 as chief guests.

The annual parade, which showcases India's military might and cultural heritage, will be held at the Rajpath, a historic ceremonial boulevard in the Indian capital. This is the first time that leaders from a regional grouping, instead of an individual country, will be the chief guests at the parade.

In recent years, the invitation to attend the parade has been extended to world leaders such as former US president Barack Obama, former French president Francois Hollande and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In November, Mr Modi - in an address at the 15th India-Asean Summit in Manila - said that India's 1.25 billion people are keen to welcome the Asean leaders.

A day before the parade, the Asean leaders and Mr Modi will take part in a commemorative summit marking the silver jubilee of India's ties with the bloc. Asean is currently India's fourth-largest trading partner with trade at US$76.53 billion in 2014 to 2015.