India with ASEAN

For more information Click here to view : Memorandum of Understanding between The Government of Republic of India and Republic of Governments of Member States of Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Strengthning Tourism Coorporation

India-ASEAN relations, as they exist today, are in some ways, a reconfiguration of age old ties which is 2,000 years old. Only the modes of trade have changed. Now, countries are using tech-oriented routes instead of the silk route which are used in older days.

ASEAN, the latest version of what was the Asian trade network ages ago, is an effort to establish cooperation in the economic, social, cultural, technical, educational and other fields among its member countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

India has shared a close relationship with ASEAN countries since the time of its independence. Mutual interest led ASEAN to invite India to become its full dialogue partner during the fifth ASEAN summit in Bangkok in 1995. India also became a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1996. The relationship was further elevated with the convening of the ASEAN-India Summit in 2002 in Phnom Penh. All these took place in a decade, which clearly signifies the importance of the dialogue partnership to ASEAN and India and the progress made in the cooperation.

India signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the ASEAN members in October 2009 in Thailand. Under the ASEAN-India FTA, the ASEAN member countries and India will lift import tariffs on more than 80 per cent of traded products between 2013 and 2016. Furthermore, tariffs on sensitive goods will be reduced to 5 per cent in 2016, while tariffs will be maintained on up to 489 items of very sensitive products.

India and ASEAN are currently negotiating Agreements on Trade in Services and Investment. The services negotiations are taking place on a request-offer basis, wherein both sides make requests for the openings they hunt for  and offers are made by the receiving country based on the requests. There are four meetings scheduled between January and July and the deal is expected to be finalized by August 2010.

India has made requests in a number of areas including teaching, nursing, architecture, chartered accountancy and medicine. India is also fanatical on expanding its telecom, IT, tourism and banking network in the ASEAN countries.

Tourist Information


 1. The tourist arrivals from the ASEAN region to India in the last five years is as follows:- 

Country

2010

2011

2012

2013

   2014

Singapore

 1,07,487

1,19,022

1,31,452

1,43,025

  1,50,731

Malaysia

1,79,077

2,08,196

1,95,853

2,42,649

  2,62,026

Thailand

76, 617

  92, 404

1,05,141

1,17,136

  1,21,362

Myanmar

14,719

  25,043

    30,588

    34,916

     54,631

Laos

809

        968

         973

      1,101

      1,390

Cambodia

1,715

     2,076

      2,028

      2,238

      4,518

Indonesia

26,171

    32,530

    29,559

    33,747

    32,215

Brunei

456

        556

         665

        706

        560

Philippines

24,534

    31,151

    33,323

   42,224

    43,240

Vietnam

7,458

     9,809

    11,332

   12,312

    15,132

TOTAL

4,39,043

5,21,755

5,40,914

6,28,955

6,85,805

(Source: Bureau of Immigration, India)
This information is not available for 2015.

 2. The outbound traffic to ASEAN Countries from India in the last five years is as follows:  

Country

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Singapore

7,25,624

8,28,994

8,68,991

8,94,993

9,33,553

Malaysia

5,89,838

6,90,849

6,93,056

6,91,271

6,50,989

Thailand

8,96,529

7,46,214

8,91,748

9,85,883

1,028,414

Myanmar

8,609

9,849

42,844

16,868

52,284

Laos

2,280

3,321

3,227

3,275

4,551

Cambodia

12,461

13,542

15,240

18,999

23,610

Indonesia

1,56,545

1,59,373

1,81,791

1,96,983

2,31,266

Brunei

2,879

4,904

4,616

5,104

6,281

Philippines

32,817

34,581

42,844

46,395

52,206

Vietnam

N.A

N.A

N.A

N.A

N.A

TOTAL

2,12,7582

24,91,627

27,44,357

28,61,783

29,83,154

(Source: Yearbook of Tourism Statistics 2015 Edition, UNWTO)
This information is not available for 2014 & 2015.

 3. The Ministry of Tourism has signed MoUs/Agreements on Tourism cooperation with ASEAN (2012), Malaysia  (2010), Philippines (2006), Thailand  (2003), Indonesia (2000) and Singapore (1994) inter alia for Information Sharing, Research and Development, Human Resource Development, Destination Management, Marketing and Promotion, MICE Tourism, exchange visit of Tourism, travel and Hospitality Industry and Opportunities for Investment in Tourism Sector.

 4. The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has introduced (e-Tourist visa) enabled by  Electronic Travel  Authorization for eight countries from the ASEAN Region. These countries are Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

 5. The ASEAN Promotional Chapter for Tourism (APCT) was established in Mumbai in 2010 with representation from Singapore as the Chairperson, Malaysia as Vice Chairperson and Thailand as Treasurer, India has no representation in the Tourism Chapter.

 6. Towards further strengthening cooperation between India and ASEAN, the following initiatives were taken:

i. The Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, Government of India attended the 4th ASEAN India Tourism Ministers meeting held at Vientiane, Lao PDR in January2013.

ii. The 12th ASEAN Tourism Working Group Meeting was held in Legazpi, Philippines in May 2014, The meeting was attended by the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism.

7. Development of Buddhist Circuit for ASEAN and India-India has a rich ancient Buddhist Heritage, with several  important sites associated with the life of Lord Buddha, which are of great interest for followers of  Buddhism the world over. With a view to showcasing and projecting Buddhist Heritage of India, Ministry of Tourism organized the 4th International Buddhist Conclave in Bodh Gaya and Varanasi from 27th to 29th September 2014. 30 guests from ASEAN Region participated in the Conclave.

8. North East India popularly known as the North East comprises the eight States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim and geographically situated in the North East corner of India. To highlight the tourism potential of the North East India in India’s key source  markets, the Ministry of Tourism,  Government of India organized the 1st International Tourism Mart from 18th-20th January 2013 at Guwahati, Assam. 47  Tour Operators, Media Persons, NTO representatives from ASEA countries attended the Mart. The 2nd International Tourism Mart was held in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh from 18-20 October 2013. The Mart was held in Shillong, Meghlaya from 13-15 October 2014 and was attended by 18 guest from ASEAN region.

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