59th ASEAN Day: Jaishankar reaffirms India's commitment to ties

EAM S Jaishankar extended greetings on the 59th ASEAN Day, reaffirming India's commitment to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. To mark the occasion, Delhi's Qutub Minar was illuminated in ASEAN colours for the first time.

India Reaffirms Commitment to Deepening Ties

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday extended greetings to the ASEAN member states on the 59th ASEAN Day, reaffirming India's commitment to deepening ties with the regional bloc through connectivity, trade, digital linkages, resilient supply chains, defence, education and cultural exchanges.

In a post on X, Jaishankar said, "Best wishes to our @ASEAN friends on the 59th ASEAN Day." He added that the ties guided by India's Act East Policy, the India-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, "continue to deepen" across key areas.

He said, "Guided by our #ActEast Policy, our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership continues to deepen through connectivity, trade, digital linkages, resilient supply chains, defence, education and cultural exchanges." Best wishes to our @ASEAN friends on the 59th ASEAN Day. Guided by our #ActEast Policy, our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership continues to deepen through connectivity, trade, digital linkages, resilient supply chains, defence, education and cultural exchanges. Confident… pic.twitter.com/49ySCEGUvs — Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) August 8, 2026 "Confident that India-ASEAN ties will continue to grow in substance and ambition, contributing to the peace, stability and prosperity of the wider Indo-Pacific region," he added.

Earlier in July, Jaishankar co-chaired the 'ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference with India 2026' in Manila, during which India and ASEAN discussed strengthening their partnership and cooperation across the Indo-Pacific.

ASEAN Day Celebrations and Key Milestones

Meanwhile, in Jakarta, ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn officiated the 59th ASEAN Day celebrations at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat, according to an official press release on the ASEAN website.

In his welcome remarks, Kao said this year's commemoration marks "three significant milestones" in ASEAN's journey: Timor-Leste becoming ASEAN's 11th Member State, the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), and the first year of implementation of "ASEAN Vision 2045: Our Shared Future." The celebration was held under the theme 'Navigating Our Future, Together.' The event featured pre-recorded remarks by Philippine President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr, while Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono also attended and delivered an ASEAN Day address.

Historic Illumination of Qutub Minar

As the regional bloc's 59th founding anniversary was observed in the Indian capital (New Delhi), the iconic, centuries-old Qutub Minar monument in New Delhi was illuminated in the colours of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Friday evening.

According to the Embassy of the Philippines in India, founded by five nations on August 8, 1967, ASEAN is now a community bringing together all 11 Southeast Asian nations: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. With a combined population of over 700 million and a GDP of over USD 4 trillion, it would rank fifth largest economy in the world, taken as a unit.

Before over 80 diplomats from ASEAN Member States' diplomatic missions and a huge throng of the site's regular visitors, the UNESCO World Heritage site lit up with the iconic rice-stalk emblem of the Association, accentuated by the group's signature blue, red, and yellow, as the ASEAN anthem solemnly played over the monument's grounds.

The illumination of the Qutub Minar marked the first-ever such projection of ASEAN's cherished symbols onto any major national monument around the world. The event was conceptualised and organised by the Philippine Embassy in India, which currently holds the ASEAN New Delhi Committee's (ANDC) rotating semestral chairmanship, the Embassy stated.

Three Decades of Partnership

ASEAN and India instituted sectoral dialogue relations in 1992. Three decades later, in 2022, the relationship was elevated to a thriving Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Under their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, ASEAN and India cooperate on a wide range of issues, including trade and investment, tourism, connectivity, agriculture, energy, culture, technology, education, and people-to-people exchanges, the Embassy affirmed.

Highlighting the event on X, the Embassy said, "The historic Qutub Minar was lit up in the colours of the ASEAN flag tonight to celebrate the 59th founding anniversary of the 11-member bloc on 08 August 2026."

Additionally, Singapore's High Commissioner to India, Simon Wong, on Friday also marked ASEAN Day by celebrating the first-ever illumination of the ASEAN flag on Delhi's iconic Qutub Minar, highlighting the close partnership between ASEAN member states and India. Sharing pictures of the event on X, Wong wrote, "Very happy to celebrate #ASEAN Day with our ANDC Family in New Delhi with the first-ever @ASEAN flag illumination of the #QutubMinar. Many thanks to our Philippines Chair." (ANI)

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