ASEAN-India Summit in Manila: India Focuses on Strategic Ties as the AITIGA Review Drags On
India's Prime Minister will attend the ASEAN-India Summit and the East Asia Summit in Manila, the Philippines, in mid-November 2026. The Philippines chairs ASEAN in 2026.
The focus will be on strategic ties: maritime security (coordinated patrols and maritime domain awareness against piracy and illegal fishing), defence links and resilience amid global changes.
The review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) is still not finished. The Ministry of External Affairs called it "difficult" because every change needs consensus (agreement of all) among ASEAN members.
Because the bloc-wide deal is slow, India is trying to deepen trade ties with ASEAN members one by one (bilaterally).
India-ASEAN trade is about $122 billion a year, but imports from ASEAN are over $80 billion. This large trade deficit (importing much more than exporting) is India's main worry.
Leaders are also expected to review the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; 2026 is the ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation.
ASEAN: Structure, Membership, and Functioning
ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a regional group of 11 countries in Southeast Asia. Its members work together on trade, security, culture and development. It works through regular meetings and decisions by consensus, so every member must agree. For India, ASEAN sits at the heart of its Act East Policy.
ASEAN's consensus rule is why the AITIGA review is slow: all members must agree on every change. That is also why India is working with individual ASEAN members on trade while using the summit to strengthen maritime and defence ties.
ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA)
AITIGA is a trade deal under which India and the ASEAN countries cut or remove import taxes (tariffs) on most goods they buy from each other. It was signed in 2009 and came into force on 1 January 2010. It covers only goods; services and investment are covered by separate ASEAN-India agreements.
The AITIGA review is the trade talk that is "dragging on". Since it is unlikely to finish by the summit, India is putting the weight of the meeting on strategic ties and pushing trade separately with individual ASEAN members.
Act East Policy
The Act East Policy is India's plan to build strong ties with countries to its east: Southeast Asia (especially ASEAN), East Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific. It covers trade, connectivity, culture, people-to-people links and security. It upgraded the older Look East Policy of 1991, which focused mainly on trade.
The Ministry of External Affairs calls ASEAN a key pillar of Act East. The summit's focus on maritime cooperation, defence and resilience shows how Act East has moved beyond trade into strategic partnership.
- Venue: Manila, the Philippines (ASEAN chair 2026), mid-November 2026; ASEAN-India Summit and East Asia Summit
- ASEAN members: 11 (Timor-Leste joined 26 October 2025)
- India-ASEAN trade: about $122 billion a year; imports from ASEAN over $80 billion
- India's trade deficit with ASEAN: over $44 billion (2024-25)
- AITIGA: signed 2009, in force 1 January 2010; review target moved from 2025 to 2026
- Comprehensive Strategic Partnership: 12 November 2022
- 2026: ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation
- Act East announced: November 2014 (Look East: 1991)