Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Education RK Ranjan Singh paid an official three-day visit to ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia from Sunday to Tuesday.
During the visit, in addition to engagements with ASEAN Secretariat, he also had engagements to strengthen bilateral relations with Indonesia, stated a release. This was his first visit to ASEAN Secretariat as well as to Indonesia, it stated.
On Monday, the union minister and ASEAN secretary general, HE Lim Jock Hoi jointly inaugurated the ASEAN-India Network of University (AINU), it mentioned.
AINU was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in 2018, as a consortium of premier institutes from India and ASEAN that would build a core network of knowledge capital in the region, it stated.
It further stated that AINU is being spearheaded by Nalanda University and ASEAN University Network from India and ASEAN, respectively.
Rk Ranjan held discussions with ASEAN secretary general on strengthening ASEAN-India relations, including enhancing educational exchanges, strengthening trade, tourism and people-to-people connectivity and taking forward ASEAN-India Partnership as it enters into fourth decade of ASEAN- India Dialogue Relations.
Further, during his interactions with the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR), he exchanged views of areas of focus in the near future to elevate the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership, it further stated.
He also held informal interactions with various ASEAN institutions including, ASEAN Inter- Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Secretariat, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), ASEAN Foundation and ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre), and discussed their ongoing cooperation with India and ways ahead for formalising the institutional linkages with them, he further stated.
During his visit, he also called on the foreign minister of Indonesia, HE Rent Marsudi where they exchanged views on existing bilateral cooperation and comprehensive strategic partnership as well as regional issues of common interest.
Secretary general of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of Indonesia HE Suharti also called on Rk Ranjan and exchanged views on existing educational cooperation and strengthening linkages on higher education. Rk Ranjan had a vibrant interaction with the Indian Community in Indonesia on Sunday, it stated.
He also addressed the CEOs of Indian companies in Indonesia at ‘Bhojan aur Charcha – IV’ organised by Embassy of India, Jakarta on August 30 which was attended by a large number of Indian CEOs and businesses in Indonesia, it mentioned.
