As part of the commemoration of 25 years of strategic partnership and in the run up to the Summit on January 25th, Government of India has decided to hold India-ASEAN Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Singapore on 6-7th January 2018 at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre. The choice of Singapore as the venue reflects Singapore’s centrality in India-ASEAN Strategic Partnership and the emergence of a vibrant community of Indian origin in Singapore.
The theme of the PBD Convention is “Ancient Route, New Journey: Diaspora in the Dynamic India-ASEAN Partnership”. The two-day event will feature discussions on a broad range of issues with outcomes that deepens diaspora’s relations with India and their role in promoting closer ties between India and ASEAN; events to engage the diaspora youth; business, finance, technology events and a gala dinner with cultural show. There will be exhibitions, competitions, cinema, yoga and Ayurveda too.
The External Affairs Minister of India, Union Ministers and Chief Ministers; officials from key Ministries in New Delhi and chambers of commerce are expected to participate in the event. Indian High Commission of Singapore also expects the leadership in Singapore and the region, as also persons of eminence from the Indian community to participate.
The web portal for registration is http://www.pbdsingapore2018.org/
Source: Indian High Commission, Singapore
What is Asean?
On August 8, 1967 Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand joined together to form ‘ASEAN – The Associations of Southeast Asian Nations’ by signing the ASEAN Declaration in Bangkok, Thailand. Brunei Darussalam, Vietanam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia then joined ASEAN over the period of time thus making it as ten member states of ASEAN.
ASEAN-India
After its economic reforms in 1990s, India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992, and that got upgraded to full dialogue partnership in 1996 and since 2002, India has been having annual summits with ASEAN.
ASEAN – India functional co-operation includes co-operation across various sectors such as trade, science & technology, human resource development, space sciences, agriculture, new and renewable energy, information and communication technology, telecommunications, transport and infrastructure, tourism and culture.
What is PBD?
On January 1915, Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa. To commemorate this day, Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Non-Resident Indian Day) is celebrated in India on 9 January every year to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community to the development of India.