Mail News Service
\nImphal, Dec 15: Participants of ASEAN car rally 2012 were warmly welcomed at Moreh, border town of Manipur today. Govindas Konthoujam, Minister , Meghachandra, Parliamentary Secretary welcomed the participants and proceeded towards Imphal.
\nThe participating teams arrived in the Imphal city at around 1:10 pm when a huge enthusiastic crowd including school and
\ncollege students received them amidst greetings.
\nChief Minister O Ibobi received them at Kangla Fort where a cultural programme was organized by the state Government to entertain the participating teams from 11 countries. He also encouraged them by giving mementos at the function. Manipur
\nDeputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam also attended the function.
\nSpeaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said, \u201cI am informed that 2012 is the 20th Anniversary of ASEAN-India Summit-level partnership and I also understand that the Government of India is hosting the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in New Delhi from December 20-21. The theme of the summit is \u201cASEAN-India Partnership for Peace and Shared Prosperity.\u201d
\nThe summit is expected to adopt the \u201cASEAN-India Vision Statement 2020\u2019 which would chart the future direction of
\nASEAN-India relations and that the statement will also include recommendations by the ASEAN-India Eminent Persons Group (AIEPG), the Chief Minister added.
\n\u201cEnhancing relations with ASEAN has been central to India\u2019s \u201cLook East Policy\u201d and we are happy to note that there has been steady progress in the ASEAN-India relations since the policy was initiated in 1991,\u201d he said.
\nIndia became a sectorial dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992, which was upgraded to full dialogue partnership in 1996. Since
\n2002, India-ASEAN Summits have been held annually.
\nThe Chief Minister later sent off them around 3:20 pm from Kangla Fort.
\nThe ASEAN-India Car Rally was flagged off on November 26 from Yogyakarta , Indonesia with a wonderful cultural performances from Manipuri and Indonesia dancers. The rally thereafter proceeded to the iconic Borobudur temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the world and proceeded to to Singapore for the second leg of the ASEAN India car rally.
\nThe ASEAN-India Car Rally was jointly organized by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and all ASEAN nations, the ASEAN India car rally commemorates 20 years of ASEAN-India relationship in the run up to the India-ASEAN commemorative Summit to be held in New Delhi on 20-21 December 2012.
\nThe ASEAN-India Car Rally was flagged off at 0900 hrs on 26th November 2012 in a grand ceremony held at Royal Ambarrukmo
\nHotel. From the Indian side, Mr. P.S. Raghavan, Special Representative of the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Gurjit Singh
\nAmbassador of India to Indonesia and ASEAN and Mr. Adi Godrej, President of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)
\nflagged off the rally cars while the Indonesian side was represented by Mr. Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja, Director General of
\nASEAN, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Representative of the Governor of Yogyakarta and other dignitaries.
\nHundreds of people had gathered at the venue, including school children waving flags of India, Indonesia and other ASEAN countries, to witness the event and cheer the rally participants.
\nThe ASEAN national anthem was sung on the occasion followed by cultural performances from India and Indonesia. A Manipuri dance troupe from Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), India, performed on the occasion.
\nIn his remarks at the Flag off, Mr. P.S. Raghavan, Special Representative of the External Affairs Minister, said that the ASEAN-India Car Rally, during its journey through ASEAN countries and India, would highlight the richness of culture and heritage in each of the countries, the complementarity of our engines of growth, the increasing bilateral trade accrossour border and the people-to-people bridges that have existed in this regions for several millenia.<\/p>\n\n