Photo: The 21st ASEAN-India Economic Ministers' Consultation Meeting on September 20, 2024 in Vientiane, Laos 

ASEAN-India dialogue relations have grown rapidly from a sectoral dialogue partnership in 1992 to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995. The relationship was further enhanced with the convening of the ASEAN-India Summit in 2002 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since then the ASEAN-India Summit has been held annually. All these took place in a decade, which clearly signifies the importance of the dialogue partnership to ASEAN and India and the progress made in the cooperation.

 As ASEAN and India commemorated the 20th Anniversary of its Dialogue Relations in 2012, both sides elevated the ties to the Strategic Partnership. 2022 continues to mark an important milestone in the ASEAN-India partnership, as the two sides established the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and celebrated the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations. The commemoration was a testament to three decades of productive and mutually beneficial partnership between ASEAN and India.

Regarding economic cooperation, at the 2nd ASEAN-India Summit in 2003, the Leaders signed the ASEAN-India Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation. The Framework Agreement laid a sound basis for the establishment of an ASEAN-India Free Trade Area (FTA). The ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) was signed on 13 August 2009 and entered into force on 1 January 2010. The signing of the AITIGA on 13 August 2009 in Bangkok paved the way for the establishment of one of the world's largest free trade areas with more than 2 billion people and a combined GDP of US$ 7.4 trillion in 2023. ASEAN and India are in the midst of the AITIGA review, which aims to make the AITIGA more user-friendly, simple, trade facilitative for businesses. and in line with current global trade practices. ASEAN countries and India also signed the ASEAN-India Trade in Services and Investment Agreements, which entered into force since 1 July 2015. ASEAN and India are also working on enhancing private sector engagement, including through the re-activation of the ASEAN-India Business Council (AIBC) AIBC regularly participates in ASEAN-India Economic Ministers' Consultations.
 With the above-mentioned cooperation efforts, India has been among the top trading partners of ASEAN. According to a preliminary data, in 2023, India was the sixth largest ASEAN’s trade partner among the ASEAN Dialogue Partners with the total trade amounting to USD 100.72 billion, which makes 2.86% of total ASEAN trade. This is a 10.93% decrease from 2022 data at USD 113.08. Meanwhile, the Foreign Direct Investment flows from India into ASEAN increased from USD 2.04 billion in 2022 to USD 5.63 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, according to India's statistics, ASEAN is the country's fourth largest trading partner.

With a solid foundation from the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, ASEAN and India have the potential to continue to promote mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation, contributing to the sustainable growth and development of the region.

Among AMS, Vietnam and India share a cordial and long-standing relationship. The year 2024 marks the 52nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and India (1972 - 2022) and 8th anniversary of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Trade cooperation has been considered an important pillar in Vietnam-India bilateral relations, continuously achieving steady growth over the past 26 years. India has become one of Viet Nam's top 8 trading partners, as well as Viet Nam's largest trading partner in South Asia, accounting for nearly 80% of Viet Nam's exports to this region; Meanwhile, Vietnam is India's 17th largest trading partner in the world and the 4th largest in the ASEAN region.