India’s Act East Policy is a significant cornerstone of the Indo-Pacific strategy, prime minister Narendra Modi said, adding that ASEAN is at the core of Act East Policy.

Modi attended the 16th ASEAN-India Summit in Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday. In his opening remarks, he expressed happiness in being part of the 16th ASEAN-India Summit. He thanked Thailand for the warm hospitality and extended best wishes to Vietnam for taking over as Chairman of next year’s summit.

A strong ASEAN will immensely benefit India, the prime minister said. He highlighted steps being taken to improve surface, maritime, air and digital connectivity. A one billion dollar Indian line of credit will prove beneficial for improving physical and digital connectivity, he said.

Modi said that last year’s Commemorative Summit and Singapore Informal Summit’s Decisions implementation has brought India and ASEAN closer. India is willing to increase cooperation and partnership in areas mutually beneficial to India and ASEAN and expressed readiness to improve partnership and capacity building in the areas of agriculture, research, engineering, science and ICT.

The PM said that India wants to strengthen cooperation in the areas of maritime security and blue economy. He also welcomed the recent decision to review India ASEAN FTA saying it will improve economic partnership between the two countries.