Indian Minister also informed that trade with ASEAN countries for the last financial year touched all time high of USD 110 Billion which is 10% of India’s global trade
Biswadeep Gupta
Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs and Education inaugurated the ASEAN-India Network of University (AINU) along with the Secretary General of ASEAN, Lim Jock Hoi, in commemorating the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations today.
AINU was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in 2018, as a consortium of premier institutes from India and ASEAN that would build a core network of knowledge capital through partnerships among academic and research institutions in India and ASEAN member states. AINU is being implemented by Nalanda University and ASEAN University Network from India and ASEAN, respectively.
While addressing the event, Dr. RK Ranjan Singh said ‘Today our cooperation has grown beyond its initial economic dimension to cover multiple facets including connectivity in various forms, people-to-people ties, and more recently, strategic as well as defence & security aspects. The graduation of our Look East policy to Act East Policy follows this growth pattern. Today a substantial portion of India’s interest lies to the East of India, beyond the Indian Ocean and into the Pacific, echoed Dr. Singh
It is three decades ago, in the early 1990s, India took the strategic course of enhancing its engagement with the East which has led to our flourishing cooperation with ASEAN.
Indian Minister also informed that trade with ASEAN countries for the last financial year touched all time high of USD 110 Billion which is 10% of India’s global trade. Highlighting the tourism potential Minister Singh said that ASEAN has been a popular destination for Indian tourists and it hosts a strong Diaspora.
Highlighting the education aspect of the mutual relationship, Dr. Ranjan stated that the ASEAN-India partnership is built on a foundation of shared values and the priority our civilisation attaches to education. He highlighted the scholarship offered by India to ASEAN member states to premier institutes of India where 1000 Ph.D. fellowship is offered at IIT etc.
Talking about NEP 2020 at the gathering, Dr. Singh said that the Indian National Education Policy addresses the needs and realities of the fourth industrial revolution as well as emerging post-pandemic scenarios. He echoed, that the best universities of this century will not be the ones with the oldest histories and the tallest buildings but ones with the most diverse, innovative, and global partnerships.
Complimenting the partnership Dr. Singh stated that it is befitting that AINU is anchored in Nalanda University which was endorsed at the 3rd East Asia Summit in January 2007 in Manila. Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh finally echoed that he is confident that the ASEAN-India Network of Universities will expand the frontiers of learning, scholarship, and knowledge, for the good of our societies and our people.
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