"We often say that our partnership with ASEAN is the foundation of our Look East policy," Khurshid said in his address at the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brunei.
"We all share the vision of a stable, secure and prosperous Asia Pacific region," he said adding the decision of the ASEAN leaders and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to upgrade the relationship into a strategic partnership was a natural progression to the ground covered since India became a Sectoral Partner of the ASEAN in 1992, Dialogue Partner in 1996 and Summit Level Partner in 2002.
"It is a natural and mutually enhancing partnership where both historical basis and future ambitions make the vectors of our interests congruent in an unparallelled manner", he said.