ASEAN and The Present Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi

Foreign policy is a key element of the public debate in India. India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has signalled a commitment to continue his nation’s “Look East” foreign policy in a world of growing Asian influence. Since India initiated its Look East Policy in 1990s India's relationship with ASEAN remains one of the cornerstones of our foreign policy. It is worthwhile to mention here that India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992, which was upgraded to full dialogue partnership in 1996. Since 2002, India have had annual Summits with ASEAN. ASEAN and India commemorated the 20th anniversary of dialogue-level partnership and the 10th anniversary of Summit-level partnership with a Commemorative Summit in New Delhi under the theme 'ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace and Shared Prosperity' on December 20-21, 2012. The present Indian Prime minister has emphasised the importance of regional cooperation since his oath ceremony when he invited the heads of SAARC countries. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy with respect to South East Asia is equally unlikely to be controversial: good relations with countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore are important not only economically but also to counter China’s growing influence in the region. This paper would endeavour to examine how under the leadership of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi India looks towards the regional organisation in general and ASEAN in particular