According to Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, India will collaborate with ASEAN to create cruise tourism routes in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. Sonowal launched the first-ever ASEAN-India Cruise Dialogue. All ASEAN members, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Timor Leste, are attending the meeting hosted by India.

The Ports, Shipping and Waterways minister also said India plans to professionalise 5,000 km of navigable waterways to enhance cruise connectivity with ASEAN nations. The statement said the dialogue aims to strengthen maritime cooperation, enhance cruise connectivity, and promote sustainable tourism across the Indo-Pacific region.

More than 30 representatives from ASEAN nations attended the meeting, which took place at Chennai Port on board the MV Empress (Cordelia Cruise ship). According to the statement, the discussion provides a high-level forum for cooperation on cruise tourism, port infrastructure development, regulatory alignment, and the discovery of cruise routes that link commercial and cultural hubs throughout the Bay of Bengal and beyond. In keeping with India’s broader maritime strategy, it also envisions the creation of an ASEAN-India Cruise Tourism Corridor.

The Union Minister said that the government’s initiative of Sagar Mala has a target of one million passengers in 2029. He informed that the cruise ship call, which was 102 in 2013 -2014, has increased to 14,272 calls. The Minister said that in the past eleven years, the Government had taken numerous initiatives on policy, legislation, taxation and improving the infrastructure. Noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that this is the right time to enable public-private partnership to increase connectivity and enable customs and immigration across the shores of the Country.