The foreign ministers of India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) began a special meeting in New Delhi on Thursday to review relations between the two sides and to forge a response to the impact of the Ukraine crisis on the economy and security of the region.
This is the first time India is hosting a special meeting with foreign ministers of Asean to mark the 30th anniversary of ties with the 10-member grouping. The two-day meeting is being co-chaired by external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan, who both referred to the fallout of the war in Ukraine in their televised opening remarks. Jaishankar said the Covid-19 pandemic had not fully abated and there is much ground to be covered for post-pandemic recovery. “This path has become even more arduous with geopolitical headwinds which we face due to developments in Ukraine and its knock-on effects on food and energy security, as well as fertiliser and commodities prices, and logistics and supply chain disruptions,” he said.
Balakrishnan was more direct in his criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying Moscow’s actions have “upended the international system of rules and norms and international law which we all depend on and operate on the basis of”. He added the “sharpening superpower rivalry between the US and China has direct implications on all of us in Asia”.
“These developments, if unchecked, can threaten the whole system of peace and stability which we have depended on for the basis of our growth, development and prosperity over many decades,” Balakrishnan said.
Jaishankar described Asean as a “beacon of regionalism, multilateralism and globalisation” that has carved out a niche for itself in the region and provided the foundation for the evolving strategic and economic architecture in the Indo-Pacific.
