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ASEAN and India: Strengthening space cooperation and diplomacy
India will be a prominent space exploration partner for ASEAN member states considering the recent success and cost-effectiveness of India’s space program.
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Smoking blastoff: The PSLV-C58 rocket, carrying the X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat), lifts off on Jan. 1 from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India. (AFP/Indian Space Research Organisation )
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aintaining a good relationship with ASEAN has been crucial for India’s foreign policy paradigms, considering what the region offers in terms of economic and strategic values. The history of this relationship can be traced back to the early 1990s when India evolved its “Look East Policy”. In 1992 India became a sectoral partner of ASEAN, a dialogue partner in 1996 and in 2022 a summit-level partner.
The India-ASEAN strategic partnership gained new momentum under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the announcement of the “Act East Policy” at the 12th ASEAN-India Summit in 2014. At the 20th summit in Jakarta in 2023, the Indian PM mentioned ASEAN as the central pillar of India’s Act East Policy.
India is part of the ASEAN Plus Six grouping, along with China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia. ASEAN is India’s fourth largest trading partner and to enhance this cooperation in regional trade, a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed in 2010. There is significant potential with these strategic arrangements.
Unlike the old dialogues which were limited to energy and economics, today’s strategic cooperation shifts to space science and technology. For the ASEAN member states, India will be a prominent partner in assisting ASEAN in space exploration considering the recent success and cost-effectiveness of India’s space program.
On Sept. 7, 2023, the ASEAN-India Joint Statement on Maritime Cooperation was declared during the 20th ASEAN-India Summit in Jakarta, marking a move toward ASEAN-India space cooperation and potential areas to explore further cooperation such as wider and more collaborative usage of satellite data.
These efforts include navigation and earth observation satellites, building digital tools and applications for maritime domain awareness, sustainable development of marine resources, empowering coastal communities, building coastal resilience and disaster risk reduction.
Back in 2015, India pushed the idea of a ground station in Vietnam. Both nations agreed to establish an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellite tracking and satellite imagery receiving station in Vietnam. This will facilitate the exchange of satellite data between ISRO and remote sensing agencies in Vietnam.
