Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar while speaking on India’s Diplomatic Initiatives at East West International Media Conference in Delhi said, “Japan and South Korea with ASEAN are natural partners”. Jaishankar said that India seeks Japan’s co-operation for high-speed railways, additional industrial corridor and for sectors such as energy while with South Korea, India would like to enhance its ship-building and maritime transport.
Jaishankar, talking about Indo-china relations said that there has been a rapid rise of trade with China. However, he pointed out that fair market access in China remains a problem for Indian companies.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, “ASEAN remains at the very core of India’s mission and the relevance of looking and acting east has interestingly been renewed by domestic developments in India” Jaishankar accredited the “well considered” national strategy for the same.
Talking about the domestic developments which have taken place in India in the past two years, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that Skill India, Digital India, 100 smart cities, Swachh Bharat, Beti Bachao and Beti Padhao are few of the campaigns India has undertaken and is looking forward to a better future.
He also said that India’s relationship with Bangladesh and Myanmar are “strong, substantive and rapidly expanding” and now when secularism in Bangladesh is under threat, the state must be supported.
Referring to the relevance of ASEAN in the international context, Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, “a more cohesive South Asia will command greater value, internationally.”