Civilisational legacy rooted in Hindu, Buddhist traditions
Hyderabad:The fourth edition of the ASEAN-India Youth Summit, held under the auspices of the Ministry of External Affairs and the ASEAN Secretariat, was inaugurated on Sunday evening at Leonia Resorts, here.
Union Minister of Culture, Tourism, and DONER, G Kishan Reddy inaugurated the summit. Over 100 delegates from Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand, along with 60 delegates from across India, will deliberate on wide-ranging issues for three days.
Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary-General of ASEAN, speaking virtually, called upon the delegates to work towards strengthening relations amongst the ASEAN nations, which would lead to greater collaboration and cooperation in critical areas. He underscored the imperative of youth playing a greater role with a passion to bring desirable changes to the Indo-Pacific region to ensure global peace.
Kishan Reddy said ASEAN nations shared a civilisational legacy rooted in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. "The shared values include deep cultural and spiritual bonds that come from the Buddhist legacy, common themes from the Hindu epics of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the shared roots of the Sanskrit and Tamil languages, and symbiotic dependence on the monsoon. It also includes a commitment to peace.
Detailing the "act east policy" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Reddy said it is anchored around "3 Cs"—Commerce, Connectivity, and Culture—for strengthening collective engagement.
He said the North-Eastern region is the gateway to implementing a vibrant East Asia Policy. The Government of India has spent over US $ 50 billion (4 lakh crore) in the North East over last 8.5 years to improve connectivity via roads, railways, airways, waterways, and info-ways (the internet).
Reddy said the fact that India's total trade with ASEAN was $42.3 billion in 2021–22 financial year, which is approximately 10 per cent of India's global trade, evidences the growing bond amongst the ASEAN nations.
He called upon youth of ASEAN to strive for holistic connectivity with ASEAN in all its dimensions, which include physical, cultural, economic, institutional, and people-to-people. "This continues to be a strategic priority for India".
In that regard, he hoped that the summit would be a step towards furthering socio-cultural exchanges between the countries of the region and strengthening the values of tolerance, pluralism, and diversity.
Recalling the India-ASEAN Digital Work Plan-2023 announced recently, he said capacity building and knowledge sharing in emerging areas in the field of information and communication technologies, such as cyber security, application of IoT (the Internet of Things), 5G for IoT and future trends, artificial intelligence (AI) in Next Generation Smart Cities and Society 5.0, and leveraging digital health platforms and tools, are going to be key areas for further engagement of the nations.
He expressed confidence that the summit and confluence of youth leaders from India and the ASEAN countries will lead to a shared understanding of the challenges ASEAN face commonly.
Officials of the Ministry of External Affairs, along with the ambassadors of ASEAN, participated in the summit. It will last until September 15