India announces additional contribution of $5 million to ASEAN-India science and technology fund

India on Saturday announced an additional contribution of USD 5 million to the ASEAN-India science and technology fund to enhance cooperation in sectors of public health, renewable energy and smart agriculture.

The announcement came during the three-day visit of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar to Cambodia for ASEAN-India and East Asia summits. On Saturday, he addressed the ASEAN-India summit.

Talking to reporters, Saurabh Kumar, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, said that both India and ASEAN vowed to advance maritime cooperation, including in maritime security.


"The Vice President announced an additional contribution of USD 5 million by India to the ASEAN-India science and technology fund to enhance our cooperation for emerging areas of public health, renewable energy and smart agriculture..." Kumar said.

ASEAN-India Science & Technology Collaboration formally started in 1996 with the establishment of the ASEAN India S&T working group (AIWGST).

Initially, the collaborative S&T projects and activities between India and ASEAN were supported through ASEAN India Fund (AIF) but in 2008, a dedicated ASEAN India S&T Development Fund (AISTDF) with an equivalent amount of USD 1 million was established jointly by the Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Science and Technology (DST) to support R&D (Research and Development ) projects and associated project development activities.

The AISTDF was enhanced to an equivalent amount of USD 5 million through an announcement by the Prime Minister of India on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India Summit in Malaysia in November 2015.

In a joint statement issued earlier in the day, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India vowed to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership and enhance cooperation against terrorism.

The two sides decided to expedite the review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) to make it more user-friendly, simple, and trade-facilitative, and work together to forge resilient supply chains, explore cooperation on a single window platform to enhance trade facilitation.