For a relationship that began warming up only about a decade ago, the India-ASEAN partnership has been trotting at quite a fast pace.

• India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992. The sectors were trade, investment, tourism and science and technology.
• Mutual interest led ASEAN to invite India to become a full dialogue partner of ASEAN during the fifth ASEAN summit in Bangkok in 1995 and a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1996.
• India and ASEAN have also been holding summit level meetings on an annual basis since 2002.

Besides, India has also been involved in a continuous effort to upgrade the bilateral relationships with the ASEAN member countries. For example, India has entered into an agreement with Thailand for a free trade area (FTA). This was followed with a similar agreement with Singapore in a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).

Simultaneously, sub-regional cooperation has accelerated too. The Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) and the BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation) are indicators to this effect.

Trade

The deepening of ties is reflected in the continued buoyancy in the trade figures. India's trade with ASEAN countries rose from US$ 9.7 thousand million in 2002-2003 to over US$ 30.64 billion in 2006-07. The growth continues apace in the current fiscal, with the trade growing by 13 per cent during April-September 2007-08 to US$ 17.02 billion as against US$ 15.06 billion during the same period last fiscal.

According to the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), India's exports to ASEAN countries increased from US$ 10.41 billion in 2005-06 to US$ 12.56 billion in 2006-07, registering a growth of 20.67 per cent. Further during the first six months of 2007-08, India's exports totaled US$ 6445.4 million, accounting for 8.96 per cent of the total Indian exports.

Similarly, Indian imports from ASEAN countries have been on an upswing, increasing from US$ 10.88 billion in 2005-06 to US$ 18.08 billion in 2006-07, registering a whopping growth rate of over 66 per cent. During April-September 2007-08, imports have further increased to US$ 10.58 billion from US$ 8.54 billion in the same period during 2006-07, accounting for 9.48 per cent of total Indian imports.

The trade momentum is likely to continue further after the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and ASEAN expected to be in place by May 2008.