ASEAN's OUTLOOK ON INDO-PACIFIC

About:

• The ten member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has adopted the ‘ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific’ after more than a year of negotiations in the recently concluded (20th to 23rd June 2019) ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) held in Bangkok, Thailand.
  
  
• Key features:
  • It views Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean regions not as contiguous territorial spaces but as a closely integrated and interconnected region.
    
    
  • It views the Indo-Pacific a region of dialogue and cooperation instead of rivalry, besides envisaging development and prosperity for all.