India-ASEAN economic partnership flourished despite COVID: ASEAN Secretary Gen

New Delhi [India], June 16 (ANI): Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), on Thursday, exuded confidence in the trade and investment ties between India and ASEAN and said that the economic partnership between the two grew in recent years despite covid pandemic.
Speaking at the Delhi Dialogue XII, he said, "Our economic partnership grew in recent years despite covid. Our trade has grown. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) from India to ASEAN grew. To meet challenges of rapid tech advancement, ASEAN is building upon vast digitalization network."
Notably, between 2000-2021 cumulative FDIs from ASEAN to India were USD 117.88 billion.
These were mainly accounted for by Singaporean investments in India (USD 115 billion). Indian
investment into ASEAN from April 2019 till March 2022 is USD 55.5 billion out of which USD 51.5 billion investment is in Singapore.
On the trade and investment front, commodity trade between India and ASEAN region has reached 98.39 billion in the period April 2021-February 2022. India's main trading ties are with Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand ie, 5 out of the 10 ASEAN member states.
Earlier, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release said that ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership today stands on a strong foundation and ASEAN is central to India's Act East Policy and its vision for the wider Indo-Pacific.
"This multi-faceted partnership encompasses many sectoral dialogue mechanisms and working groups that meet regularly at various levels and include annual Summit, Ministerial and Senior Officials' meetings. The ongoing India-ASEAN collaboration is guided by the Plan of Action 2021-2025 which was adopted in 2020," the release said.
Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers' Meeting (SAIFMM) was accompanied by the 12th edition of Delhi Dialogue, a premier Track 1.5 Dialogue in the ASEAN-India calendar, hosted by India on 16-17 June 2022.
The theme of DD-XII is 'Building Bridges in the Indo-Pacific'. The ministerial session of DD-XII is being attended by the External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and the ASEAN Ministers. (ANI)