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Terrorism, trade and the South China Sea dispute are expected to dominate the discussions at the 13th Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India Summit on 20 November 2015,
Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Southeast Asian leaders will be reviewing the ASEAN-India cooperation and charting out its future direction at the summit. The Prime Minister
was welcomed in Kuala Lumpur on Friday morning by Indians in Kuala Lumpur. India and the leaders of the 10 member grouping will review the new Plan of Action (2016-2020) to further enhance
ASEAN-India cooperation along the politico-security, economic and socio-cultural pillars. The ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership has gained momentum after the Act-East Policy by Prime
Minister Modi at the 12th ASEAN-India Summit in Myanmar in 2014. WHY IS ASEAN IMPORTANT TO INDIA? * India and ASEAN have 30 dialogue mechanisms including a Summit and 7 Ministerial meetings
in External Affairs, Commerce, Tourism, Agriculture, Environment, Renewable Energy and Telecommunications. * ASEAN is India’s fourth largest trading partner whereas India is the sixth
largest trade partner for ASEAN. * Trade between India and ASEAN stood at $76.52 billion in 2014-15. * India’s exports to ASEAN were $31.81 billion and its imports from the grouping were
$44.71 billion. * The ASEAN-India economic integration process got a boost with the creation of the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area in July 2015, after the entry into force of the ASEAN-India
Trade in Services and Investment Agreements. * Negotiations on a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement involving the ASEAN countries and its 6 FTA partners including
India have seen some breakthroughs and are expected to be concluded in 2016. _(With inputs from PTI)_ Published: 21 Nov 2015, 9:09 AM IST