New Delhi, India, August 8 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Saturday extended greetings to ASEAN member states on the 59th ASEAN Day, reaffirming India’s commitment to deepening ties with the regional bloc through connectivity, trade, digital linkages, resilient supply chains, defense, education and cultural exchanges.
In a post on X, Jaishankar said, “Best wishes to our @ASEAN friends on the 59th ASEAN Day.” He added that ties guided by India’s Act East Policy and the India-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership “continue to deepen” across key areas.
He said, “Guided by our #ActEast Policy, our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership continues to deepen through connectivity, trade, digital linkages, resilient supply chains, defence, education and cultural exchanges.”
“Confident that India-ASEAN ties will continue to grow in substance and ambition, contributing to the peace, stability and prosperity of the wider Indo-Pacific region,” he added.
Earlier in July, Jaishankar co-chaired the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference with India 2026 in Manila, during which India and ASEAN discussed strengthening their partnership and cooperation across the Indo-Pacific.
Meanwhile, in Jakarta, ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn officiated the 59th ASEAN Day celebrations at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat, according to an official press release on the ASEAN website.
In his welcome remarks, Kao said this year’s commemoration marks “three significant milestones” in ASEAN’s journey: Timor-Leste becoming ASEAN’s 11th member state, the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), and the first year of implementation of “ASEAN Vision 2045: Our Shared Future.”
The celebration was held under the theme “Navigating Our Future, Together.”
The event featured pre-recorded remarks by Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., while Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono also attended and delivered an ASEAN Day address.
As the regional bloc’s 59th founding anniversary was observed in the Indian capital, the iconic, centuries-old Qutub Minar monument in New Delhi was illuminated in the colors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Friday evening.
According to the Embassy of the Philippines in India, founded by five nations on August 8, 1967, ASEAN is now a community bringing together all 11 Southeast Asian nations: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
With a combined population of more than 700 million and a GDP of more than $4 trillion, ASEAN would rank as the world’s fifth-largest economy if considered as a single unit.
Before more than 80 diplomats from ASEAN member states’ diplomatic missions and a large crowd of regular visitors to the site, the UNESCO World Heritage site lit up with the iconic rice-stalk emblem of the association, accented by the group’s signature blue, red and yellow colors, as the ASEAN anthem played solemnly over the monument’s grounds.
The illumination of the Qutub Minar marked the first-ever projection of ASEAN’s symbols onto a major national monument anywhere in the world. The event was conceptualized and organized by the Philippine Embassy in India, which currently holds the ASEAN New Delhi Committee’s (ANDC) rotating six-month chairmanship, the embassy stated.
ASEAN and India established sectoral dialogue relations in 1992. Three decades later, in 2022, the relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Under their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, ASEAN and India cooperate on a wide range of issues, including trade and investment, tourism, connectivity, agriculture, energy, culture, technology, education and people-to-people exchanges, the embassy affirmed.
Highlighting the event on X, the embassy said, “The historic Qutub Minar was lit up in the colours of the ASEAN flag tonight to celebrate the 59th founding anniversary of the 11-member bloc on 08 August 2026.”
Additionally, Singapore’s High Commissioner to India, Simon Wong, on Friday also marked ASEAN Day by celebrating the first-ever illumination of the ASEAN flag on Delhi’s iconic Qutub Minar, highlighting the close partnership between ASEAN member states and India.
Sharing pictures of the event on X, Wong wrote, “Very happy to celebrate #ASEAN Day with our ANDC Family in New Delhi with the first-ever @ASEAN flag illumination of the #QutubMinar. Many thanks to our Philippines Chair.” (ANI)
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