New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to travel to the Philippines next week to attend the 23rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India Summit and the 21st meeting of the ASEAN-led East Asia Summit process, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Thursday.
The visit will take place from November 16 to 18, Rudrendra Tandon, Secretary (East) at the MEA, announced during a special media briefing in New Delhi Thursday.
“In addition to a very active bilateral relationship with all 11 ASEAN member states, we see our engagement with the ASEAN regional platform also as a key element or building block of our Act East policy,” Tandon said.
The Prime Minister’s programme in Manila will include a dinner hosted by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for the visiting dignitaries, followed by the ASEAN-India Summit and the East Asia Summit the next day, with bilateral meetings with other leaders in between.
“There is also a very strong demand from the Indian community to meet the Prime Minister, so we are trying to adjust that also in his schedule,” he said.
Tandon said ASEAN has emerged as a major trading partner for India, with trade with the entire region at approximately 122 billion.
“We in India strongly believe that, as an Indian Ocean country that abuts this very important Southeast Asian maritime zone, a strong strategic relationship with the ASEAN member states, as a collective as well as individually, is good for both of us,” he said.
Such a relationship, he said, will make both sides more resilient in handling rapid geopolitical changes and will contribute to peace and stability in Asia as a whole.
Describing the East Asia Summit as a very unique ASEAN-led grouping of eight leaders, Tandon said leaders of ASEAN and these countries discuss global security issues and issues of common concern in an informal setting.
“This year’s East Asia Summit process is led by the ASEAN Chair, which is the Philippines. That’s why it’s happening in Manila. This, too, is a remarkable example of how successful ASEAN collective diplomacy has become,” he said.
The theme of this year’s ASEAN Summit and ASEAN processes has been ‘Navigating the Future’, and the leaders will focus on enhancing collaboration to become more resilient to the changes around them, the MEA Secretary added.
