2026 will be ASEAN-India year of maritime cooperation: PM Modi

New Delhi: The India-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is emerging as a powerful foundation for global stability and growth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.

In a virtual address at the India-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) annual summit, Modi also said that the grouping is a key pillar of New Delhi's Act East Policy.

"India has always fully supported 'ASEAN centrality' and ASEAN's outlook on the Indo-Pacific," he said.

"Even in these times of uncertainty, the India-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has made steady progress. Our strong partnership is emerging as a powerful foundation for global stability and growth," Modi said.

The prime minister said India has "stood firmly with its ASEAN friends" in every crisis and the two-way cooperation in the spheres of maritime security and the blue economy is growing rapidly.

"In light of this, we are declaring 2026 as the ASEAN-India year of maritime cooperation," he announced.

"We are also vigorously advancing mutual cooperation in education, tourism, science and technology, health, green energy and cybersecurity. We will continue to work together to preserve our shared cultural heritage and strengthen people-to-people ties," he said.

ASEAN is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region, and India and several other countries, including the US, China, Japan and Australia, are its dialogue partners.

The ASEAN-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of a sectoral partnership in 1992. This graduated to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995 and a summit-level partnership in 2002.

The ties were elevated to a strategic partnership in 2012.

The two-way relations between India and ASEAN have been on a significant upswing in the last few years, with focus being on boosting cooperation in the areas of trade and investment as well as security and defence.