The ASEAN-India car rally was flagged off from Yogyakarta in Indonesia yesterday, marking the close links between India and the 10 nation grouping. The rally was cheered by hundreds of people waving flags. The rally will pass through eight ASEAN countries over 22 days, covering a distance of eight thousand kilometres, before entering India on the 17th of next month at Guwahati. A total of 124 participants from 11 countries are participating. The car rally marks the 20th commemorative year of the ASEAN-India relations and the 10th year of their summit level engagement. From the Indian side, Special representative of External Affairs Ministry, P.S.Raghavan, Ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN, Gurjit Singh and President of CII, Adi Godrej flagged off the cars. After a night halt at Sukarto, the rally participants flew to Singapore for the second leg of the rally. It will be ceremonially flagged down in Delhi on Sunday by Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh in the presence of 10 ASEAN Heads of State. ASEAN has emerged as one of the most important trading partners of India. India became a full dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1995. Along with the car rally, business centric events will be organised in countries enroute to connect with the common man.