AlHijjah 21, 1432, Nov 17, 2011, SPA -- Partnership with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an essential component of India's Look East policy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday as he left for Bali to attend the East Asia summit and the ASEAN-India summit, according to dpa. "The East Asia Summit is the principal forum to devise an open and inclusive architecture of regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region," Singh said in a statement. The East Asia Summit is a gathering of the 10 ASEAN countries plus eight other nations, including India, Russia and the United States. Political and security issues were increasingly becoming part of the East Asia Summit agenda, Singh said. Disaster management, maritime security, terrorism and other non-traditional threats to security were areas of concern for countries in the region, he added. Singh said he expected to hold bilateral meetings with US President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and other leaders on the sidelines of the summits. The US and Russia make a formal entry into the East Asia summit with the Bali meeting. Singh said India would host for the first time the ASEAN-India summit in 2012. ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Indian prime minister is scheduled to fly to Singapore from Bali on a two-day visit after the summits.
