India and the powerful ten-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Wednesday issued a joint declaration on cooperation for combating international terrorism and signed a major framework agreement to comprehensively enhance their current trade turnover of $12 billion and establish a free trade area in ten years.
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Another accord declaring India's accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia was signed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and heads of state or government of the ten ASEAN countries attending the India-ASEAN Summit in Bali.
The first India-ASEAN Summit was held last year in Cambodia.
The joint declaration on terrorism initialed by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and ASEAN foreign ministers envisages exchange of information, cooperation in legal matters, free cooperation in enforcement matters, institutional capacity building and training to combat the scourge.
The declaration, which is on the lines that the group has with the United States, lays down the "seriousness" of the 10 countries to deal with the menace of terrorism and related crimes like money laundering and drug trafficking, Kanwal Sibal, foreign secretary, told reporters in Bali.
The declaration comes in the backdrop of the terrorist bombings in October last year and in August this year in Bali and Jakarta in Indonesia.
"Terrorism has become a major concern of several ASEAN members," Sibal said after the closed door summit in which Vajpayee participated.
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