Under Malaysia’s representation on October 26, 2025, PM Modi and ASEAN leaders met virtually at the 22nd ASEAN-India Summit. There, they unveiled the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), affirming commitment to ASEAN Centrality and Unity, while complimenting ASEAN on adopting the ASEAN Community Vision 2045. India took it further by declaring 2026 as the “ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation” to boost the Blue Economy.
India’s journey with ASEAN has evolved dramatically—from becoming a sectoral partner in 1992, to upgrading to a Strategic Partnership, and the 2014 announcement of the ‘Act East Policy.’ These steps signal India’s clear intent to scale up cooperation with ASEAN Member States. The Act East Policy emphasises Connectivity, Commerce, and Culture as key pillars for deeper ASEAN-India integration. This helps counter China’s militarisation, U.S. retrenchment, and power diffusion. In this light, 2025 stands out as a high-water mark for deepened ties, laying a pragmatic roadmap for Indo-Pacific stability and ASEAN-India engagement.
Key ASEAN-India Summits in 2025
The 22nd ASEAN-India Summit was a high-profile gathering featuring diplomatic speeches and ceremonial moments where leaders convened, where PM Modi congratulated Timor Leste on becoming ASEAN’s 11th member and welcomed their delegation at its first summit as a full member. He reiterated India’s support for ASEAN Unity, Centrality, and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), while complimenting the adoption of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045. PM Modi emphasised an early review of the ASEAN-India FTA (AITIGA) to unlock economic potential and made a strong statement on terrorism as a global threat, calling for unified action.
Concrete announcements flowed in support of Malaysia’s “Inclusivity and Sustainability” theme. PM Modi extended backing for the ASEAN-India Plan of Action (2026-2030) to implement the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and adopted the ASEAN-India Joint Leaders’ Statement on Sustainable Tourism, linked to the ASEAN-India Year of Tourism. In his speech, he designated 2026 as the “ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation” for blue economy partnerships. To ramp up engagement, India proposed the Second ASEAN-India Defence Ministers’ Meeting and the Second ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise. PM Modi praised India’s role as a First Responder for Disaster Preparedness and HADR in the neighbourhood, noting plans to train 400 professionals in renewable energy to support the ASEAN Power Grid. India also offered to establish a Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at Nalanda University, host the East Asia Summit Maritime Heritage Festival at Lothal, Gujarat, and convene a conference on Maritime Security Cooperation. Looking ahead, ASEAN-India ties will flourish through enhanced cooperation in education, energy, science & tech, fintech, cultural preservation—plus new emphasis on infrastructure, semiconductors, emerging tech, rare earths, and critical minerals.
Spotlight on the Pacific Roadmap
The India-ASEAN partnership goes beyond bilateral ties; it anchors the future of the Indo-Pacific. For India, ASEAN opens the door to Act East Policy ambitions, transforming it from a South Asian power into a key Indo-Pacific stakeholder. ASEAN’s strategic position along vital sea routes—like the Malacca Strait, through which 80% of India’s energy imports pass—makes cooperation essential for India’s economic security. Discussions highlighted tourism cooperation, the soon-to-be-completed review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), and partnerships in digital, maritime, connectivity, health, innovation, and development, among many aspirations.
Yet challenges loom, especially from China’s expanding militarisation via artificial island building, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and coercive diplomacy. India’s maritime geography, demographic weight, and normative commitments position it uniquely to shape the regional order. Since 2014, India’s shift from non-alignment to multi-alignment means selective cooperation based on issue-specific convergence—not equidistance from major powers. For example, India teams up with the United States on maritime security, France on Indian Ocean governance, and Japan on infrastructure connectivity.
This multi-alignment hedges against geopolitical shocks, letting India shape regional norms from relative autonomy. India’s push for inclusivity and transparency shines through in SAGAR, IPOI, QUAD, and the International Solar Alliance (ISA), reinforcing a normative narrative of regional stability via pluralism, resilience, and inclusivity. By championing open, rules-based frameworks, India sets itself apart from China’s state-capital-driven BRI, often criticised for fostering debt dependency and sovereignty threats. India’s transparent partnerships show in infrastructure pacts with ASEAN, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, using economic diplomacy for geopolitical sway. Participation in the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) underscores India’s role in crafting trade norms, without full liberalisation, safeguarding domestic priorities amid regional engagement. Thus, India’s multi-alignment & transparent pacts foster a rules-based Indo-Pacific, hedging risks while countering BRI’s debt traps and advancing autonomy.
Challenges and Strategic Shifts
Yet, despite these strategic gains, significant challenges persist both at home and in trade dynamics. Domestically, the budgetary limits, sluggish bureaucratic reforms, and reliance on foreign defence tech often delay projects and erode force readiness. India’s defence budget rises in absolute terms but stays modest against regional goals, competing with welfare and development needs. A civil-military divide hampers coordination between policy and execution.
These shortfalls, like delays in the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, dent India’s credibility and blunt the Act East Policy’s impact. Indian industries argue that AITIGA concessions favour ASEAN with cheap imports, while their exports hit non-tariff barriers—making the 2025 review of AITIGA contentious. From FY 2009 to FY 2023, India’s imports from ASEAN surged 234.4%, exports just 130.4%, ballooning the trade deficit from $7.5 billion in 2011 to $44 billion in 2023. This imbalance erodes mutual prosperity goals, demanding urgent scrutiny in the ongoing AITIGA review.
Regional ambiguity around QUAD and similar groupings persists, sometimes clashing with ASEAN’s non-alignment and centrality. In 2019, India exited the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) over trade imbalance fears, especially with China—a lesson drawn from AITIGA, while ASEAN remains trusted. Hence, the trade gap calls for protecting national interests alongside cooperation.
Future Implications and Roadmap Ahead
To aim for a formal ASEAN-India-Pacific pact by 2030, India should launch a high-level Project Implementation Unit (PIU) under the Ministry of External Affairs. This would tackle delays in connectivity and development across the Indo-Pacific and ’Act Fast’ to fight against China’s assertiveness in the region. Similarly, Building on 2023’s UPI-PayNow integration with Singapore, India can push a unified ASEAN-India cross-border payment system, prioritising data sovereignty and cybersecurity for economic ties.
Towards more cooperative relations, India should also propose a Strategic Minerals and Technology Supply Chain Resilience Pact with resource-rich members like Indonesia and Vietnam, securing critical sectors, to enhance trade, innovation and developmental links. Finally, to make the 2026 ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation permanent, as announced in the 22nd meeting, India could establish a Blue Economy and Marine Technology Research Fund for joint advances in deep-sea mining, sustainable fisheries, and non-traditional maritime security.
Conclusion
From ASEAN’s view, India proves a vital economic and strategic partner amid Indo-Pacific tensions. Still, for many members, India lags as an export destination behind China, the US, Japan, or the EU. To build a resilient Indo-Pacific, priorities must tackle non-tariff barriers, rules of origin, services and investment, supply chain resilience, sustainability and green growth. As dynamic Indo-Pacific forces, India and ASEAN stand to gain by aligning on digitalisation, sustainability, inclusive growth, and strategic autonomy.
References:
MEA. Press Release (2025)
https://www.mea.gov.in/press-releases.htm?dtl/40231/Prime_Ministers_participation_in_the_22n d_ASEANIndia_Summit_in_Kuala_Lumpur
MEA.(2017).ASEAN_India_August_2017.pdf
Vietnam News Agency. The Investor Vafie Magazine. (2025) ASEAN an important pillar of India’s Act East Policy: official
Gagan C and Santosh Kumar.(2025)**From non-alignment to multi-alignment: India’s indo-pacific strategy and the shifting geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific
Association of Southeast Asian Nations.(2025). https://asean.org/speechandstatement/asean-outlook-on-the-indo-pacific/
Gurjit Singh.Raisina debates.(2025)
https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/resetting-india-asean-trade-in-2025
MEA. 2025.
https://www.mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/36799/IndiaFrance_IndoPacific_Roadmap
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