The visit of India's Minister for External Affairs, Pranab Mukherjee, to Indonesia and Singapore from 17 to 22 June has helped in consolidating India's strategic engagement with ASEAN, identifying new areas for cooperation and developing modalities to further expedite India's integration with the region. Though always informally understood, India for the first time declared officially that Singapore is 'at the heart of India's Look East policy,' and Indonesia is India's 'key strategic partner' in the ASEAN region. Viewed in this perspective, Singapore and Indonesia, together act as India's springboard for its strategic overtures not only in Southeast Asia, but rather in the entire east Asian region stretching from Myanmar to Japan in the East and Australia in the south - encompassing the geographical range of India's Look East policy.

The visit also ended the tentativeness and over-caution in India's policy pronouncements with regard to the ASEAN. These were symptomatic partly of unspoken reservations of the ASEAN countries vis-à-vis India's commitment to its Look East policy and partly of India's inability to measure the intensity of ASEAN's engagement with it. India has never before, been as connected and understood as it is today in ASEAN. Indonesia's call for greater defence and security cooperation including maritime security cooperation in the Malacca Straits and Singapore's call for Indian initiatives in addressing the Myanmar 'problem' amply demonstrate India's rising profile in the ASEAN region and is an acknowledgement of its benign image.

While taking part in the third meeting of the India-Indonesia Joint Commission, constituted in 2003, the two countries agreed to develop a 'Plan of Action' to implement the key elements of an India-Indonesia strategic partnership as outlined during the visit of Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to India in November 2005. The Joint Commission meeting, since its inception in 2003 has been held once every two years and assesses progress in bilateral cooperation, covering a whole gamut of issues ranging from defence and economic issues to scientific and technological cooperation and human resources development. During the meeting, the two countries also reaffirmed their objective of achieving the target of US$10 billion two-way trade by 2010, as agreed earlier at the second meeting of the Commission in New Delhi in 2005. Both sides have identified "new fields of cooperation" such as in the development of special economic zones, alternative energy resources, in health and pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, mining and biotechnology.

During Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Singapore, the two countries set up a Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) to oversee and expand bilateral cooperation and launched the India-Singapore CEO Forum and India Business Forum, both Track-II initiatives focussing on various issues of economic cooperation. The JMC, headed by the foreign ministers of both countries, will hold its meetings annually. The CEO Forum will be co-chaired by Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata group of industries in India and Koh Boon Hwee, Chairman of DBS Group Holdings Limited of Singapore.

These initiatives and dialogues highlight India's strategic priorities in the ASEAN region - Singapore and Indonesia as key partners in the region, strategic, economic and defence as key areas for cooperation and both Track-I and Track-II institutional engagement as means to strengthen the level of cooperation with the region in tandem with its strategic priorities. India's strategic prioritisation in the ASEAN region is also in tune with the prevailing perception about Singapore being the economic leader and Indonesia being the political leader of ASEAN and in consonance with the enormous politico-strategic clout these two countries exercise in the ASEAN strategic and economic discourses. While Singapore is India's largest ASEAN trading partner (US$13 billion in 2006), Indonesia is the third largest trading partner (US$4.7 billion in 2006) among the ASEAN countries.

As the stage is set for India's comprehensive engagement with the ASEAN region, a lot depends on how India executes its responsibilities and addresses the expectations it has generated among ASEAN countries through its promising economic growth, huge market, technological progress and military capabilities. It is time India begins to deliver by fast-tracking ASEAN-India FTA, giving access to its market, offering its scientific and technical expertise, military assistance and by supporting ASEAN's cause in the greater East Asian as well as international politics. While Indonesia has extended visa-on-arrival facilities to Indian citizens, India has so far not reciprocated. The implementation of agreements is crucial for India's sustained engagement with the region and beyond. The Nalanda project is a good example. Singapore has not only taken initiatives to repackage centuries-old cultural links through the programme of re-establishing an international university in Nalanda, but also acted as a liaison to draw support from China, Japan and South Korea for the project. Singapore has decided to hold an exhibition on the cultural and educational heritage of Nalanda in November 2007, which would coincide with the East Asian Summit. The investment generated through this project along with investment in other tourist circuits will give a major face-lift to Bihar, probably, the most backward province in India. India has to make sure that it does not slip up on its home turf.