India-ASEAN talks to focus on economics, security

Foreign ministers and senior officials of several of India's Asian neighbours are currently meeting in New Delhi as India pushes forward more firmly with its 'look east' policy, which it has been pursuing over the last 20 years.

Furthering economic ties is likely to be the focus of the 'Delhi Dialogue IV' between India and the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) delegation. Non-traditional security challenges and the evolving regional security environment will be other key areas of discussion.

Apart from terrorism, the non-traditional security threats include climate change, water and food security, piracy, pandemics, and cyber security. The two sides will seek to work out mechanisms to jointly counter these challenges.

The Delhi dialogue has a twin historical significance – it marks 20 years of the ASEAN-India dialogue, as well as 10 years of the summit-level partnership between the two. It will culminate in the India-ASEAN summit at the end of 2012, with Delhi hosting the heads of states or governments of the 10-nation grouping.

''Political leaders, policy makers, senior officials, diplomats, business leaders, think tanks and academics from both sides would be participating in the discussions spread over two days. All the ten ASEAN countries have sent delegations or are participating in the form of speakers and panellists in DD-IV," a ministry of external affairs release said.

The theme of the two-day DD-IV is 'India and ASEAN: Partners for peace, progress and stability'.