Of the other nine, six came at the level of foreign minister. Notable was Vivian Balakrishnan of Singapore, who co-chaired the meeting as Singapore is the current country coordinator for India in ASEAN. Prak Sokhonn, the foreign minister of Cambodia, the current chair of ASEAN was present. Retno Marsudi, the foreign minister of Group of 20 chair Indonesia was an active participant.

Thailand, the Philippines and Laos participated at lower levels but the participation was fulsome and meaningful.

Since the last India ASEAN summit in 2021, the problems of COVID-19 and economic recovery have been compounded by the Ukraine crisis. Thus, this meeting was significant in trying to deal with the current global crisis and how India and ASEAN together should act in their own interest to help people mutually.

The meeting was treated as an important confidence building mechanism for the region. The Cambodian foreign minister told the Delhi Dialogue, the track 1.5 parallel event, that there was a crisis in the region due to increasing great power rivalry, which ASEAN alone had not been able to manage.

The Singaporean foreign minister pointed out the important role of India, particularly in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recovery and confidence building measures. He said that whenever one thought of the pharmacy of the region or the world of digital technology and the big supplier of agricultural products, all eyes turned to India. Keeping India engaged was important for the region.

The Indonesian foreign minister made a plea that despite the problems and cleavages in the world, it was important that strategic trust should be enhanced. This meeting was an opportune time for vaccination to deter the lessening of such trust.

The Indian minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishanker, said the partnership had received the double dose of the vaccine, and now the meeting had given it a booster shot. This appeared to be the perception among the participating ministers, who showed a degree of comfort and confidence with India.

India's engagement with ASEAN started after the Indian economic liberalization in 1991 and the launch of the Look East policy. Thereafter, India became a sectoral partner of ASEAN in 1992. This was enhanced to a full dialogue partner.

In 2002, India, and ASEAN established their annual summits. In 2012. at the 20^th Commemorative Summit, the strategic partnership was created. At the 25^th anniversary Commemorative Summit held in New Delhi in January 2018, all the 10 ASEAN leaders participated, including as chief guests at the

Republic Day parade.

The 30^th anniversary this year is significant. India could have once again chosen of a spectacular summit. Given the problems of the pandemic, economic recovery and the Ukraine crisis, it was decided to do a functional ministerial meeting as a special event for the 30^th commemoration. Despite the United States, Japan and China in recent months doing commemorative summits, India was not stampeded into a similar effort and decided to work functionally This is a welcome decision and perhaps could set the trend for India's other plurilateral engagements which have not been held for several years, due to paucity of time and opportunity for holding summits. Holding these at ministerial level could take the agenda forward.

Much of the India-ASEAN agenda is already on the anvil and agreements exist. What is now to be done is to take them forward with determination. Most ministers pointed in this direction, that we have a good framework and let us now move to fruition.

Among the significant mentions in the cochair’s statement are an increasing heft for strategic and political cooperation. In the past, this was the weakest link in the India-ASEAN relationship, but is now becoming more focused.

The India-ASEAN joint statement on maritime security at the last summit and the agreement for aligning the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) with the Indo-Pacific Oceans initiative (IPOI) of India has been reiterated as a good framework which requires further movement. Singapore and Indonesia stepped forward to participate in the IPOI programs.

It was decided that India and ASEAN would hold a defense ministers informal meeting, to be held alongside the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM) plus, in November. India's participation in ADMM plus has become more regular and this sets an important tone to the almost 30 other mechanisms which already exist. The agreement to do a joint maritime exercise between India and ASEAN as a whole is also a welcome step. Up to now India has been doing coordinated patrols with six ASEAN member states.

On the economic side, there was satisfaction that there is finally forward movement in India-ASEAN trade which has crossed US$100 billion. This requires much more attention and the creation of new supply chains which will be resilient and not China dependent. This can be supplemented by a review of the ASEAN India Agreement on Trade (AITIGA), which is overdue.

Despite repeated calls for its early implementation, ASEAN bureaucratic processes are slow, now it appears that the basic work to present the proposal to the ASEAN economic ministers later this year is complete. The review could actually start after that, and perhaps be concluded by 2024.

The India-ASEAN upgraded free trade agreement could be a game changer within the Indo-Pacific region. Seven ASEAN countries, besides India, are part of the new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership from which India withdrew has not started with gusto. A revitalized AITIGA would compensate for any lost opportunities for the engagement with ASEAN without necessarily bringing in the China factor.

ASEAN needs to understand this concern with China. They cannot become a conduit for Chinese goods into India. Jaishanker was quite clear in his remarks at the Delhi Dialogue that ASEAN would do well to understand India's China policy, which was based on the mutual respect, sensitivity and interests. He clearly said that what happens on the border will be reflected in the bilateral relationship with China. In this India is not following the ASEAN template where economic relations are rapidly growing.

The maintain from the commemorative ministerial meeting is that it did not make tall announcements or new funding mechanism., It took stock, shred efforts to improve realization of goals and promoted confidence building measures which will increase the strategic autonomy of both India and ASEAN in the region.

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The writer is former Indian ambassador to Indonesia and Timor Leste, ASEAN, Germany, Ethiopia and African Union.