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Indonesia and ASEAN: our immediate neighbours

India attaches great importance to its relationship with the countries of South East Asia. In keeping with our consistent policy to seek to enlarge areas of peace and friendship, it is our endeavour to cooperate with the countries of South East Asia in their economic development and their striving towards peace and stability.

The independence of India and Indonesia imparted a great momentum to the struggle against colonialism and imperialism. The traditional ties between the people of India and Indonesia have been strengthened in modern times by our common struggle against these forces.

The relationship between India and Indonesia ever since the independence of our countries rests upon a firm foundation of friendship and co-operation. We have both been closely involved in the Non-aligned Movement since its inception. It is but natural that we share many common perceptions and approaches to the important issues on the international agenda, such as the need to keep the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace, to promote and work for peace and stability in Asia and the world, evolution of a new and just international economic order and, above all, the urgent need for non-aligned and developing countries to co-operate amongst themselves in many more fields.

Shared Ideals

Indonesia and India are immediate neighbours who share a common cultural heritage from times immemorial. In the more recent past, the peoples of Indonesia and India inspired one another in a mutually reinforcing struggle against the forces of imperialism. We watched with admiration Indonesia's heroic efforts to liberate itself from colonial domination in the forties and we extended our wholehearted support to that struggle.

Following their emergence as independent States, both countries were inspired by the principles of Panchasheela* at a time when the world was driven into two competing power blocs and there were very few newly-independent States. Indonesia and India found that we could safeguard and consolidate our independence most effectively by opting to pursue a policy of non-alignment. Such shared ideals prompted both nations to take the lead in mobilising Afro-Asian unity at the historic Bandung conference.