India-ASEAN Partnership in An Era of Globlization
Reflections by Eminent Persons

The India-ASEAN Eminent Persons Lecture Series was launched by the Government of India in December 1996 to enhance people-to-people interactions between India and the ASEAN countries to complement the growing India-ASEAN partnership.

Since its launch in December 1996, the Lecture Series coordinated by the RIS has established itself as an institution of influence and standing. Lectures have been delivered under the Series by very distinguished statesmen and experts from the ASEAN countries in India and by equally noted Indian experts in ASEAN countries. These lectures are serving a very useful purpose of strengthening the linkages between India and the ASEAN economies and helping the opinion makers in the respective economies to acquire a better appreciation of the contemporary issues and the policy options open to the governments. Over the past few years since its launch, the Lecture Series has facilitated over twenty exchanges of visits by eminent persons between India and ASEAN countries. These Lectures provide valuable reflections on a number of themes concerning the ASEAN-India partnership in the current context of globalization.

Given the high profile of the speakers, the Lectures delivered under the Series represent an authoritative thinking. Therefore, it was decided to publish the texts of these lectures in a volume to facilitate their further dissemination and to carry forward the debate they have generated.

The eminent contributors to the volume include:

• Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia;

• Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand;

• Professor Juwono Sudarsono, Minister of Education and Culture, Republic of Indonesia.

• Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large, Republic of Singapore;

• Mr. Syed Hamid Albar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia;

• Mr. Soubanh Srithirath, Minister in the Office of the President of the Lao PDR;

• Dr. Ali Alatas, Former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia;

• Mr. Nguyen Dy Nien, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam;

• Mr. Hor Namhong, Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Cambodia;

• Dr. Rodolfo C. Severino Jr., Secretary-General, ASEAN;

• Dr. C. Rangarajan, former Governor of Andhra Pradesh, India;

• Mr. Kavi Chongkittavorn, Executive Editor, The Nation, Thailand;

• Professor J. Soedradjad Djiwandono, Former Governor, Bank Indonesia;

• Dr. Mohamed Ariff, Executive Director, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research;

• Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, Chairman, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai;

• Professor U.R. Rao, Member, Space Commission, India;

• Dr. P.N. Tandon, Professor of Neuro-Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi;

• Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, FRS, Director General, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; and

• Mr. Narayana N. R. Murthy, Chairman, Infosys Technologies Limited.