Prof. Hidetoshi Nishimura, Executive Director of ERIA, attended the Delhi Dialogue on February 20, 2013 in Delhi, India.

The India-ASEAN Delhi Dialogue is an annual international conference of political and economic leaders, officials, academics and opinion-makers of ASEAN countries with their Indian counterparts to discuss how to intensify and broaden political, strategic, economic and civil society interaction between the two regions.

This Dialogue is organized by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, in partnership with the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and supported by the SAEA Group Research, Singapore and Economic Research Institute of ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), Jakarta.

This conference is divided into five sessions in which the participants would speak and deliberate on issues such as "India-ASEAN Security Cooperation: Towards Peace and Stability," "Non-Traditional Security Challenges: Food Security, Water Management and Pandemics," "Future of Global Energy Market: Role of New and Renewable Energy in Sustainable Development," "Cooperation between CLMV Countries and North-East India: Opportunities and Challenges," and "Expanding Networks through Connectivity: Land, Sea and Air".Through these sessions, the Dialogue would highlight India's increasing engagement with ASEAN countries and explore the agenda for consolidation of their relationship in the coming years.

Prof. Nishimura made a presentation on "ASEAN-India Connectivity and its Missing Links" at session 4 "Expanding Networks through Connectivity: Land, Sea and Air", mentioning several key issues on physical and institutional connectivity. He also highlighted the importance of enhancing Mekong-India Economic Corridor (MIEC) and equitable development of Myanmar for sustainable economic growth of the region, saying that "we propose Two-Polar (Yangon and Mandalay) development, connectivity enhancement in the domestic economic corridors, and border development. This strategic combination will achieve both high economic growth and equitable development and bring additional benefit to India and the Mekong region."