External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attends AINTT, highlights India and ASEAN’s role in shaping Asia and the world

The Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on August 20, 2020, attended the sixth roundtable of ASEAN-India Network of Think Tanks (AINTT) and highlighted how India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can together help shape Asia and the world.

The External Affairs Minister acknowledged that India is the fifth-largest country in the world and ASEAN is one the crossroads of the global economy and together both can help shape Asia and the world. He further suggested that has it has become important that at this juncture, we must put our heads together.

While commenting on the roles of both India and ASEAN, he also highlighted that the relations between India and ASEAN were founded very much on our shared interest in globalisation.

New thinking, fresh ideas, more imagination and greater openness.

Pleasure to address today the 6th Roundtable of the ASEAN-India Network of Think Tanks (AINTT). Emphasised the need to go beyond orthodoxies, whether in trade, politics or security. https://t.co/TUyEzmLLCl https://t.co/aQ8INvs5iC

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) August 20, 2020

S Jaishankar on global supply chains amid the pandemic:

During the sixth roundtable of AINTT, the External Affairs Minister mentioned that the concerns about the global supply chains must be mitigated with a greater emphasis on resilience and diversification.

He further added that we all must think through these challenges and come out with a more practical and positive model of cooperation.

While commenting on multilateralism, he pointed out that the irony, however, was that when it was most in demand, it was not able to rise to the occasion. Even if we saw little leadership, it was not just due to the admittedly archaic nature of the key international organisations. Equally, it also reflected the intensely competitive nature of international politics.

Forming trust in International relations:

External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar underlined that trust is perhaps the most valued commodity in international relations, as a big issue that confronts the world is not just the state of the economy, challenges to governance, or damage to the societies, it actually is what kind of world order or disorder we are going to live in.

As a result, the commodity which might be most valued in international relations is that of trust. He further stressed whatever we may assume, but the actions of the nations during the time of crisis determines how the world actually perceives them.