The ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit was hosted to celebrate 20 years of India’s Dialogue Partnership with ASEAN and 10 year’s of Summit Level Partnership with ASEAN. The maturity of two decades of India’s engagement with ASEAN led to elevation of its relationship to Strategic Partnership with the 10-nation body and adoption of a Vision Statement for future course of action. Multi-sectoral dialogues have been raised to Ministerial levels The negotiations for expanding India’s free trade agreement (FTA) with ASEAN to cover services and investment have been successfully concluded, awaiting a ceremonial signing ceremony.

With this India and ASEAN embarked on a new journey.

” While we flag down this Rally, we are also flagging off a new journey of closer cooperation and a deeper strategic partnership, not only for the benefit of our people, but also for peace, progress and prosperity in our region and the world. I have no doubt that a new era awaits us all,” said the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at the Flag Down Ceremony of the ASEAN-India Car Rally.

The ASEAN-India Car Rally was flagged off from Yogyakarta in Indonesia on November 26. The rally completed a remarkable journey of 8000 km passing through eight countries in 22 days, finally entering India.

Dr Singh described the rally as “a tribute to earlier generations of merchants, monks and adventurers, who traversed this route in a quest for fortune, knowledge and spirituality.”

“In the last three weeks, the Car Rally has rekindled these ancient bonds of friendship between India and ASEAN. It has also served to highlight the natural strategic imperative for our relationship in contemporary times,” he said.

The rally has fostered the ancient civilisation and cultural links of India with the ASEAN region. The Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Borobudur and Prambannan temples in Indonesia, Wat Phu in Laos, Ananda Temple in Bagan in Myanmar, Sukhothai Historial Park in Thailand and My Son in Vietnam stand as testimony to the common civilisation and cultural links. The Vision Statement has called for preserving, protecting and restoring these historical architectures.

The Indian Prime Minister said : “this rally symbolizes the vision of an ASEAN-India community where people, goods, services and ideas can travel freely between us. Whether it is by road from India to Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, or by air or sea to Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore, our future will be driven by the bonds of connectivity we build in the coming years. These physical bonds will be strengthened by digital links, which will help our younger generations to network better. Together, this web of linkages will help unleash the vast economic potential of our region, accelerate development and deepen our strategic partnership.”

He urged for setting up of institutions linked to India-ASEAN relationship in the north-eastern states of India.

“Even as we celebrate the Car Rally, there is another voyage of friendship taking place on the seas. The Indian Navy sail training ship INS Sudarshini, which is at present in Manila, is on a six month long expedition to nine ASEAN countries. It is yet another symbol, not only of our proximity, but also of our shared maritime interests,” the Indian Prime Minister said.

The INS Sudarshini had arrived at its first port of call at Padang in Indonesia on October 12.

On Thursday night larik dancers from Indonesia swayed with kathak dancers from India, dudang dudang dancers from Brunei joined rhythm with India's famed kuchipudi artists while the Myanmarese did a cultural synthesis with Laotians. Various song and dance traditions representing 10 ASEAN countries fused in a rich cultural medley to celebrate the common cultural space and civilisation they have shared for over two millennia.

There were in all 10 groups from each of these groups and 10 groups of dancers and musicians from various parts of India - from Shyopat Julia's mesmerising performance with the bagpipe, known as the mashak in Rajasthan, and the deft, foot-tapping bamboo dancers of Mizoram to the haunting voice of Sufi singer Renee Singh and the Ramayana dance drama of Thailand. There was also the tinkling dance of Philippines and the grasshopper dance of Cambodia.

And the grand finale at the end, where all 20 troupes, from across the geographies of this vast Indo-ASEAN region, danced on stage to a common rhythm brought the elite audience to its feet. In the audience were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his cabinet colleagues, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and presidents, prime ministers, a vice president and a sultan from Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Phillipines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Apart from country delegations from 10 ASEAN countries, 250 students, 30 farmers and Editors of leading media houses participated in the two-day conclave.