India’s Relations with Regional Organizations in South East Asia

Abstract

There is a common tendency to talk of the Southeast Asian Region as the ASEAN Region. Here it is important to note that when we talk of India –ASEAN Relations, we are referring to India’s interaction with ASEAN as an institution. The point is critical because in international political arena bilateralism and multilateralism are very distinct phenomenon. This does not mean that they are not overlapping or one does not influence the other at all. For e.g. if we look at India and ASEAN, we find that the country’s good bilateral relations with Singapore helped build its ties with the institution.