MoS Dr Ranjan visits ASEAN Secretariat
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, August 30 2022: Minister of State for External Affairs Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh paid an official visit to Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia from August 28 to 30 .

It was his first visit to ASEAN Secretariat as well as to Indonesia.

During the visit, in addition to engagements with ASEAN Secretariat officials, MoS Dr Ranjan had engagements to strengthen bilateral relations with Indonesia.

A release of the office of MoS, ministry of External Affairs informed that on August 29, Dr Ranjan and ASEAN secretary general Lim Jock Hoi jointly inaugurated ASEAN-India Network of University (AINU), a university announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in 2018, as a consortium of premier institutes from India and ASEAN that would build a core network of knowledge capital in the region.

AINU is now being spearheaded by Nalanda University and ASEAN University Network from India and ASEAN respectively.

The MoS held discussion with Jock Hoi on strengthening ASEAN-India relations including enhancing educational exchanges, strengthening trade, tourism and people-to-people connectivity and taking forward ASEAN-India Partnership as we enter into fourth decade of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations.

Further, during his interaction with the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR), MoS exchanged views of area of focus in the near future to elevate the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership.

Dr Ranjan also held informal interactions with various ASEAN institutions including ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Secretariat, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), ASEAN Foundation and ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) and discussed their ongoing cooperation with India and ways ahead for formalising the institutional linkages with them.

During his visit, Dr Ranjan also called on the Foreign Minister of Indonesia Rent Marsudi where they exchanged views on existing bilateral cooperation and comprehensive strategic partnership as well as regional issues of common interest.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of Indonesia, Suharti also called on the MoS and exchanged views on existing educational cooperation and strengthening linkages on higher education.

Dr Ranjan had a vibrant interaction with the Indian community in Indonesia on August 28 as well and also addressed the CEOs of Indian companies in Indonesia at "Bhojan aur Charcha - IV" organised by Embassy of India, Jakarta on Tuesday which was attended by a large number of Indian CEOs and businesses in Indonesia.

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