493 : ASEAN-India Cooperation in Information and Communications Technology
Chan Jia Hao
24 May 2018
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Singapore from 31 May to 2 June 2018 to
participate in the annual Shangri-La Dialogue. While international relations and security
remain important foreign policy imperatives for India, Modi is also keen to enhance
economic cooperation with Singapore and the Southeast Asian region. One sector of
particular interest to the Indian prime minister is digital connectivity. The ‘Digital India’
programme has been successfully incorporated in several of India’s economic initiatives.
Digital connectivity has also become a serious agenda in the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN)-India relations in recent times. This paper discusses the latest digital
developments and collaborations between India and ASEAN, with particular references to the
Smart Cities. It concludes by outlining the limitations that both sides need to address in this
sector.