(a) whether our Prime Minister had recently attended the Third India-ASEAN summit at Laos;
(b) if so, the details of the issues discussed in the said summit;
(c) the proposals made by India in the summit; and
(d) the outcome thereof?
(a) whether our Prime Minister had recently attended the Third India-ASEAN summit at Laos;
(b) if so, the details of the issues discussed in the said summit;
(c) the proposals made by India in the summit; and
(d) the outcome thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI E AHAMED)
(a)-(d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN ANSWER TO PARTS (a)-(d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. 207 TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.12.2004 REGARDING INDIA-ASEAN SUMMIT
1. The Prime Minister attended the 3rd India-ASEAN Summit in Vientiane on November 30, 2004. International and regional political and economic developments as well as matters relating to the India-ASEAN relationship were discussed at the Summit.
2. The proposals made by India at the Summit include those for an India-ASEAN broadband high speed network, a net portal to enable visually impaired person access the internet, joint research and development in medicines, stockpiling of rarely used drugs in the region, cooperation for production of seed and exchange of germplasm for fruits and vegetables. The Prime Minster also offered concessional lines of credit upto US$200 million to eligible member countries of ASEAN.
3. An agreement on “India-ASEAN Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity†was signed during the Summit. This sets out a vision for a long term partnership between India and ASEAN. The Plan of Action annexed to the Agreement contains detailed measures for economic, scientific and technological, social and cultural cooperation as well as cooperation on political and security issues.