EAM S Jaishankar calls Asean cornerstone of India's Act East Policy

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is the cornerstone of India's Act East Policy and its Indo-Pacific vision, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday, as he sought to expand political, economic and security cooperation with the bloc. Jaishankar is in the Laotian capital to participate in the meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In his remarks at the opening session of the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers Meeting, Jaishankar said that the current political, economic, and security cooperation with ASEAN is India's top priority. "For India, ASEAN is the cornerstone of its Act India Policy and its Indo-Pacific vision that was thereafter built on it," he said. "The current political, economic and security cooperation with ASEAN is of the utmost priority so is the people-to-people linkages, that we are constantly seeking to expand," he said. It is encouraging to note that the India-ASEAN partnership acquires ever more dimensions with