On 4 July 2017, at the Taj Palace in New Delhi, India, His Excellency Sengphet HOUNGBOUNGNUANG, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR led the Lao delegation to attend the 9^th Delhi Dialogue under the theme “India and the ASEAN: Charting the Course for the next 25 years”.The meeting was co-chaired by Her Excellency Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs of India and His Excellency Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam, and attended by dignitaries and representatives from ASEAN Member States and India. 

At the forum, ASEAN and India agreed to further strengthen the ASEAN-India strategic partnership in areas of mutual benefit covering trade and investment, socio-cultural and people-to-people contacts, education and connectivity.

Sharing his vision on strengthening ASEAN-India relations at the Dialogue under the topic “Water of Asia, Cultural and Political ties”, Deputy Minister Sengphet HOUNGBOUNGNUANG, emphasized that Laos, as the other ASEAN Member States inhabiting along the major river basins, attaches great importance to sub-regional cooperation frameworks such as Mekong-Ganga, Mekong-Lancang, Mekong-Japan, Mekong-ROK, among others, that aim to promote development cooperation, and protect the rivers and improve the livelihood of people.  As ASEAN and India are connected through land, rivers and seas, and endowed with excellent geographical conditions, both sides should fully tap into their huge potentials in enhancing cooperation in the areas such as agricultural and agro-processing industries as well as continue to enhance long-standing mutually beneficial relationship through strengthening ties among government and people-to-people levels, thereby promoting peace, stability and shared prosperity in the region and the world at large.