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Transcript of Special briefing by Secretary (East) on Prime Minister's visit to Lao PDR (October 09, 2024)

India - Ministry of External Affairs

October 09, 2024

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to this special briefing by Secretary (East) Shri Jaideep Mazumdar on Prime Minister's upcoming visit to Laos for participation in India ASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit. We are also joined on the dais by Joint Secretary who looks after ASEAN in the Ministry of External Affairs, Smt. Paramita Tripathi.

With that, I invite Secretary Sir to make his opening remarks. Sir, over to you.

Shri Jaideep Mazumdar, Secretary (East): Thank you, Randhir. As Randhir mentioned, the Prime Minister will be travelling to Vientiane in Lao PDR for the 21st ASEAN-India Summit and the 19th East Asia Summit at the invitation of His Excellency Prime Minister Siphandone of Lao PDR. The visit will be over 10th and 11th of October. We attach great significance to all ASEAN-related mechanisms. This will be Prime Minister's 10th attendance at the ASEAN-India Summit. And you will recall that even in 2023, just before he was to host the G20 Summit, he made the effort to attend the ASEAN-India Summit in Jakarta. That shows the commitment that we have to the ASEAN-related mechanisms.

And the significance of this particular summit will be that it is the 10th anniversary of Prime Minister's Act East policy. Prime Minister will, along with other Heads of State and Government of ASEAN countries, review the progress in the relations between India and ASEAN over this time. And they will chart the future direction of our relationship. We will be expressing our support for the Chair's theme, which is Connectivity and Resilience.

Now, as you know, connectivity is a very important pillar of our engagement with ASEAN. As much as 20% of the Indian Diaspora worldwide lives in ASEAN countries. We have direct flights with seven ASEAN countries. And we expect that perhaps before the end of the year, we will have direct flight connectivity with two more ASEAN countries. And ASEAN is also amongst our top trade and investment partners of India. And therefore, the importance of connectivity and relationship with ASEAN.

In terms of resilience, in terms of disaster resilience, for example, India has been one of the first responders in disaster occurrences in the region, starting from the Indian Ocean Tsunami to the Typhoon Yagi earlier this month, or last month. And recently, we airlifted assistance to both Vietnam and Laos, as well as to Myanmar in the wake of the typhoon.

Regarding resilience, also building resilient supply chains is an important objective for India with ASEAN countries. And our review of the ASEAN-India trade in goods is ongoing. And that is something that will feed into supply chain resilience with these countries.

India has many cooperative activities with ASEAN countries. We have four funds. One is the ASEAN-India Fund, the ASEAN-India Green Fund, the ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund. And last year, Prime Minister announced the ASEAN-India Fund for the Digital Future. So we have a number of activities lined up on all these funds, through which we undertake capacity building, we offer scholarships, we build collaborative R&D, we build people-to-people connects, and we cover many areas such as IT, space, health, etc.

Moving on to the East Asia Summit. The East Asia Summit, as you know, encompasses the 10 ASEAN countries, and eight partners; Australia, China, India, Japan, ROK, New Zealand, Russia and the United States, and Timor-Leste will also be a partner as an observer. This mechanism has been in existence since 2005, and it is to build strategic trust in the region, promote peace and stability, and prosperity for the region.

In the East Asia Summit, the Prime Minister announced the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative in the 14th EAS Summit in 2019, and since then we have built convergences with the ASEAN's own outlook for the Indo-Pacific, and we work closely with ASEAN countries on this. Three ASEAN countries, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, and three East Asia partners, the United States, Australia and Japan are our partners in the IPOI. Incidentally, the revival of the Nalanda University is also an East Asia Summit initiative, and as you know, the Prime Minister inaugurated the new campus of Nalanda University very recently.

Bilaterally, Prime Minister will have a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Lao PDR. We have very close, friendly and historical and civilizational relations with Lao PDR. That includes a whole host of different areas of cooperation, including restoration of archaeological sites, capacity building, IT. We have also undertaken quick impact projects. We have undertaken transmission line projects, power projects, a whole host of different areas of bilateral cooperation. There will also be other bilateral meetings with some of the countries who will be attending the East Asia Summit, and now if you have any questions, I'd be happy to take them.

Ayushi: Sir, good afternoon. This is Ayushi Agarwal from ANI. So you mentioned that PM Modi is going to have other bilaterals as well, if you can tell us, and is there any meeting expected with the Chinese Premier?

Sidhant: Sir, Siddhant from WION. Sir, you mentioned about 10 years of Act East policy of Modi government. So if you can talk about the impact and of course how it has strengthened the relationship between India and ASEAN grouping. And my second question is on the cultural aspect. We saw earlier this year when EAM travelled, a stamp was released when it comes to Ramayana. So is anything, any linkages we are looking at when it comes to the cultural linkages between India and Southeast Asia?

Yeshi: This is Yeshi Seli from the New Indian Express. Is Myanmar going to take part in this upcoming meet?

Shri Jaideep Mazumdar, Secretary (East): I will respond to them. As is normal and usual on the margins of international conferences and meetings, Prime Minister will have bilateral meetings with a number of leaders. These are all in the works and you will get to hear of them as they happen.

Regarding 10 years of Act East policy, you know, these would be too numerous to recount here. There have been so many interactions, so much of bilateral cooperation and so many different facets of the relationship that have grown unrecognizably today from what they were 10 years ago. But let me just say that there has been a qualitative and transformative development in our relations, both with the ASEAN region and with the larger region, which includes India Act East policy, which is ROK, with Oceania, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific island countries, with Japan. So this includes both high level visits and you have seen even in the last three or four months, how many high level visits there have been between our two countries. And in each of those high level visits, there has been real content in a future looking- forward looking way.

Prime Minister himself has visited Singapore and Brunei. We have had incoming visits from the Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Malaysia. We had President going to Timor-Leste, Fiji and New Zealand. We have had External Affairs Ministers visits also to many places. I myself have done Foreign Office Consultations with both Philippines and Indonesia.

So this is an ongoing and very intense engagement with the entire region.

Regarding linkages, even during this visit, you will see some evidences of what we are doing in terms of our civilizational connect with Lao PDR. You will see that there are some projects that we are undertaking, which restores ancient linkages between our two countries. But this is also an ongoing thing in both Cambodia, in Vietnam, in Lao PDR and all across the region.

As far as Myanmar is taking part, yes, Myanmar will be represented at this summit.

Sudhi Ranjan: Sir, Sudhi Ranjan from Bloomberg, sir. If you could give us an understanding whether the Prime Minister is going to discuss Myanmar and the situation there with other global leaders. And if so, what exactly would be the discussion around on that?

Shri Jaideep Mazumdar, Secretary (East): So on Myanmar, of course, in the context of the East Asia Summit, this will come up. We expect, because it has come up at the level of Senior Officials as well as Foreign Ministers, we expect that it will also be discussed. Our position is very supportive of the five point consensus of ASEAN.

We support the work of the special envoy of ASEAN, who has been in contact with us. And our basic position, which we have consistently held, is that dialogue is the only way out, violence is no solution. And we encourage all parties to sit down and discuss issues between them.

Keshav: Good afternoon, Secretary. My question regarding, so last year, this is Keshav from The Print, last year during the Prime Minister's visit to the East Asia Summit, he made a 12 point proposal of which connectivity, digital infrastructure, multiple parts to this. So could you give us a sense of, you know, whether the proposal, what are the policy actions that would be discussed as a part of this? And also a little bit on the connectivity aspect related to Myanmar, whether the trilateral highway, its completion, whether that's also a sense as a part of this for connectivity with ASEAN.

Arunesh: I'm Arunesh from ANI. My question is, during the Prime Minister's visit, will the issue of Indians getting duped to Cambodia on the pretext of fake jobs, will that issue also come up during his visit?

Shri Jaideep Mazumdar, Secretary (East): On the 12 point proposals, you will see, in terms of the outcomes that will be announced after the ASEAN-India Summit, that will happen tomorrow, you will see how the action points that emanate from it feed into the 12 point proposals that the Prime Minister had announced last year. So I don't want to preclude that. So you will definitely get to hear about it. I can assure you that we have a very rich list of deliverables between India and ASEAN.

On the trilateral highway, yes, definitely. Connectivity is a very important element of our connectivity with ASEAN countries. And Thailand is very keen, as keen as us, that this is completed at the earliest. Myanmar is also very keen that we operationalize this at the earliest. So it is something that will be discussed and will come up in our interventions.

As regards fake jobs, this is an issue which we have been taking up with countries concerned. External Affairs Minister has also, in the past, been taking it up. And we have had positive responses from the countries involved. Even as recently as last week, we had a large batch of about 65 people who were rescued from Cambodia. So this is an ongoing discussion that we are having with the countries, and we are seeing positive results from it.

Pia: Hi, sir. Pia, with The Print. A Spokesperson from the Thailand Foreign Ministry recently said that the political solution to Myanmar is necessary, and that Thailand may in fact float its own plan to resolve the crisis at the upcoming summit. So my question is, can we expect to understand that the five-point consensus is no longer being discussed seriously? Would you say it's basically dead in the water at this point? Thank you.

Abhishek: Hi, sir. Abhishek Jha, I'm an independent journalist. My question is regarding this ASEAN Summit. Will Prime Minister be also talking about digital public infrastructure, especially in the digital area, because India has several DPI agreements with several countries in the region, but will it also be raised at the level of the India-ASEAN grouping?

Yeshi: This is Yeshi Seli again. About Myanmar, we are talking about the trilateral connectivity. What about the Kaladan multi-modal transit project? Are you going to discuss that, since you said that Myanmar is taking part?

Pranay: Sir Pranay Upadhyaya from Amar Ujala. Mera sawal iss chij ko le kar hai ki haal hi me dakshin purva Asia ke ilake ke andar cyber crime ek bahut badi chunauti ke taur par ubhara hai. Aur haal hi me UN ke report ne bhi kaha hai ki Southeast Asia me bada challenge hai. To humari iss yatra ke dauran ye kitna bada mudda hoga aur kai Bharatiya is se prabhabit ho rahe hai.

[Question in Hindi: Approximate translation] Sir Pranay Upadhyaya from Amar Ujala. My question is regarding the fact that recently, cybercrime has emerged as a major challenge in the Southeast Asia region. A recent UN report also stated that it is a significant challenge in Southeast Asia. So, during our visit, how big of an issue will this be, and many Indians are being affected by it?

Shri Jaideep Mazumdar, Secretary (East): My first point would be that the five-point consensus is an overarching consensus among ASEAN countries and their partners about the situation in Myanmar and any solution or any attempts at solution come under the overarching consensus of the five-point consensus. So I don't see any contradiction with any initiative that any country takes in creating a solution to that problem.

Now, as far as the next question goes on digital public infrastructure, I can assure you that you will not be disappointed when you see the outcomes coming out tomorrow and day after. It will play an important part in the outcomes from the ASEAN-India Summit.

On the Kaladan project, it is itself a bilateral project between India and Myanmar, so it is a subject of bilateral discussions. I do not expect it to come up for discussion at the ASEAN-India Summit.

Cyber crime ke mudde pe jaise maine pehle kaha ye ek kaafi important chij hai. humare Indians bahut effect huwe hai iss se. aur kewal Indians hi nahi saare Southeast Asian desho me iska problem, iska asar huwa hai aur kaafi desh iss se prabhabit huwe hai. aur iske bare me kuch capacity building in cyber crime, capacity building in forensics for cyber crime, ye sab mudde humare desho, ASEAN aur Indian desho ke bich me discussion huwe hai capacity building measures humne kiye hai. To ye jarur ek ahem subject hai.

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate translation] As I mentioned earlier, the issue of cybercrime is quite important. Many of our Indians have been affected by it. And not just Indians, but countries across Southeast Asia have been impacted by this problem. Many countries have been affected by it. Regarding this, discussions on capacity building in cybercrime, capacity building in forensics for cybercrime have been held between our countries, ASEAN countries and India. We have undertaken capacity-building measures. So, this is definitely a significant subject.

Pranay: Sir ASEAN ke liye humara koi suggestion ya proposal hai kya. ASEAN iske liye koi ek framework banaye?

[Question in Hindi: Approximate translation] Sir, do we have any suggestions or proposals for ASEAN? Should ASEAN create a framework for this?

Shri Jaideep Mazumdar, Secretary East: Aisi koi initiative abhi aaya nahi hai ASEAN ke taraf se because essentially hum to as a partner of ASEAN countries we assist them in capacity building or in bilateral cooperation and how to address these issues. Unke taraf se if they wish to create some mechanism by which they cooperate among themselves toh wo unka mamla hai. Hum unko encourage kar sakte hai but ye essentially unhi ka decision hai but bilaterally harek desh ke saath jiske saath humare Indians aise isthiti me aaye hai jo waha pe scamsters se prabhabit ho ke waha pe gaye hai, toh harek desh ke sath humara bilaterally mechanism hai to rescue those Indians.

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate translation] No such initiative has come from ASEAN so far because, essentially, as a partner of ASEAN countries, we assist them with capacity building and in bilateral cooperation to address these issues. If they wish to create a mechanism through which they cooperate among themselves, that is their matter. We can encourage them, but essentially, it's their decision. However, bilaterally, with each country where our Indians have been affected by scammers and have gone there, we have bilateral mechanisms in place to rescue those Indians.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: If we do not have any more questions, then we come to the closure of this session. Please stay tuned. The visit begins tomorrow. Thank you very much for your presence.