ASEAN: PM to focus on one-to-one meets

India's ‘look East’ policy initiated by P.V. Narasimha Rao over a decade ago will get a major fillip next week as Prime Minister A...

India’s ‘look East’ policy initiated by P.V. Narasimha Rao over a decade ago will get a major fillip next week as Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee travels to South-East Asia to sign a slew of agreements at the second India-ASEAN summit in Bali on October 8 followed by a visit to Bangkok aimed at enhancing India-Thailand ties.

Vajpayee, who has taken a keen interest in establishing close ties with countries of the continent, is leaving a day ahead of schedule — on October 5 — to devote more time to bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the ninth Asean summit (and the second India-Asean summit) in the island of Bali, Indonesia. Bilateral meetings are scheduled with different heads of government, including one with the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

Briefing reporters on the Prime Minister’s sojourn, Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said three important agreements would be signed between India and the 10-nation Asean grouping. These would include a joint declaration in combating international terrorism, a framework agreement which would be a precursor to a free trade agreement, and India’s accession to the treaty of amity and cooperation in South-East Asia.

Story continues below this ad

Given the rise of terrorism in many of the Asean countries — which came to the fore with the brutal Bali blast last year and the Jakarta hotel bombing recently — the ASEAN is serious about joint efforts to fight terrorism, and the money-laundering and drug-trafficking rackets that sustain terrorism, Sibal said. The agreement would be on the lines of the US-Asean agreement on combatting terrorism, he added.

That apart, enhancing economic cooperation will be a key area of engagement during the PM’s visit. At the first India-Asean summit held in Phnom Penh last November, Vajpayee had mooted a Free Trade Area agreement and the proposed framework agreement would lay down the roadmap towards that end, Sibal said.

He admitted that Vietnam and Philippines had had reservations on that score but India had succeeded in allaying their concerns and there was no problem any more.

While Vajpayee’s first day in Bali will be devoted to bilateral meetings, he will participate in the Asean business and investors’ forum on October 7 also.

Story continues below this ad

He will leave the same day for Bangkok where he will address Thailand’s National Assembly — the first foreign leader ever to be given such an honour. He will also have an audience with the king, a one-on-one meeting with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra, to be followed by delegation-level talks between the two sides.