Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the friendship between India and Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) has assumed greater significance at a time when conflicts and tensions are raging across the world, pointing out that the 21st Century belonged to India and the regional bloc, and unveiling a 10-point plan across trade, tourism, cybersecurity and health care to deepen ties with the alliance.

In his address at the 21st Asean-India Summit at Vientiane in Laos, Modi reiterated India’s support for the bloc’s “unity, centrality and outlook” on the Indo-Pacific — a vast region in which China is racing to expand its influence with its aggressive moves fuelling global concerns about its intent.

“India-Asean friendship, dialogue and cooperation is very important at a time of conflicts and tensions in several parts of the world. We are all peace-loving nations with respect for one another’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” the PM said in his opening address.

In the last 10 years, India-Asean trade has almost doubled to $130 billion, and the bloc is one of the country’s largest trade and investment partners, Modi said, as he called for completing the review of the Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) in a timebound manner for harnessing greater economic potential.

Read more: Laos visit an opportunity to discuss challenges to peace, stability: Modi

The alliance consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Modi, who participated in the summit for the 11th time, said that India-Asean ties were critical to steering Asia’s future, while emphasising the vibrancy of the country’s Act East policy, now a decade old.

Modi and the Asean leaders adopted two joint statements — one on strengthening the Asean-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace, stability and prosperity in the region, and other related to advancing digital transformation.

In the first joint statement, the leaders reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight in the region, and other lawful uses of the seas, including unimpeded lawful maritime commerce and to promote peaceful resolutions of disputes, in accordance with universally recognised principles of international law.

“In this regard, we support the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in its entirety and look forward to the early conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) that is in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea),” the statement said.

To be sure, China has longstanding territorial disputes in the resource-rich South China Sea with several members of the bloc including Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

India and Asean agreed to strengthen cooperation in maritime security, counterterrorism, cybersecurity, military medicine, transnational crime, defence industry, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. “This will be achieved through the exchange of visits, joint military exercise, maritime exercise, port calls by naval ships and defence scholarships,” the joint statement said.

The moves announced in Laos seek to build on past initiatives.

Last year, the navies of India and Asean conducted their maiden joint drills in the South China Sea, where China is known for its aggressive activities that threaten to escalate tensions in the region. Beijing has been increasingly belligerent in stressing its claims in the South China Sea.

India has consistently called for a free, open and inclusive order in the Indo-Pacific, pivoting on respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations, while stressing on peaceful resolution of disputes through dialogue and under the framework of international laws.

The summit comes at a time when China is seeking to expand its footprint in the Indo-Pacific by setting up military bases, pushing countries to advance its maritime claims and forcing strategic concessions from vulnerable States.

India and Asean agreed “to promote diverse, secure, transparent and resilient supply chains while exchanging information on identifying and proactively addressing potential risks in supply chains in areas of mutual interest to promote sustainable development”.

Cooperating on emerging technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, quantum computing, and 6-G technology also figured in the joint statement.

In keeping with the Chair’s theme of Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience, Modi announced a 10-point plan that included celebrating 2025 as Asean-India year of tourism, for which India will mark a decade of its Act East policy through several people-centric activities including a youth summit, start-up festival, hackathon, and a women scientists’ conclave.

Doubling the number of scholarships at Nalanda University, and making provisions of new scholarships for Asean students at agricultural universities in India also figured in the plan.

It also spoke of reviewing AITIGA by 2025, enhancing disaster resilience for which India would provide $5 million, and initiating a regular mechanism of Asean-India cyber policy dialogue for boosting digital and cyber resilience.

The joint statement on advancing digital transformation talked of strengthening cooperation in several domains including digital public infrastructure, financial technology, cyber security, AI, and sustainable financing and investment.

The summit also comes at a time when Exercise Malabar 24, involving the navies of India, the US, Australia and Japan (Quad), is underway in Visakhapatnam. A top admiral on Wednesday said the exercise has its own strategic significance and implications for the Indo-Pacific region, adding that it seeks to promote regional stability and security, and deter potential threats through enhanced interoperability.