July 04, 2017

• The Ministerial Session of the ninth edition of Delhi Dialogue, the pre-eminent annual Track 1.5 dialogue process for brainstorming on all aspects of the ASEAN-India relationship, took place in the evening of 4 July 2017 at New Delhi.
• Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs, hosted the Session, which was attended by Gen. (Dr.) V.K. Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs; Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Assam; Shri Chowna Mein, Deputy Chief Minister (Finance, Planning and PWD), Arunachal Pradesh and Shri Y. Patton, Home Minister of Nagaland. From ASEAN, H.E. Mr. Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Foreign Affairs, Viet Nam; H.E. U Kyaw Tint Swe, Union Minister, Ministry of the Office of the State Counsellor, Myanmar and H.E. Hirubalan V P, Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Political-Security Community Department, ASEAN Secretariat, attended the session.
• In her keynote address, EAM observed that "ASEAN and India are natural partners that share geographical, historical and civilisational ties. The cultural highway that linked the rivers Ganga, Brahmaputra, Meghna, Irrawady and Mekong and those who dwelt on their banks, enriched our shared civilizational ethos in two way process. It is important to note that this inter-mingling happened without any conquest or colonization”.
• A panel discussion on Waters of Asia: Cultural, Social and Political Ties was held in which Gen. (Dr.) V.K. Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs participated along with H.E. Dr. Maliki Osman, Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs, Singapore; H.E. Mr. Virasakdi Futrakul, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thailand; H.E. Mr. Sengphet Houngboungnuang, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lao PDR; H.E. Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Brunei Darussalam and H.E. Dr. Sok Siphana, Advisor to the Royal Government, Cambodia.
• An Address by Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Assam was preceded by Shri. Ms. Preeti Saran, Secretary(East)'s special address. The welcome remarks were delivered by Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Past President, FICCI and the Vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Samir Saran, Vice President, ORF.
• The Ministerial Session, which concluded with a cultural event followed by Dinner hosted by EAM, was attended by over 200 delegates from ASEAN countries and India.
• The Ministerial Session would be followed by a Business and Academic Session on 5 July.