New Delhi, Oct 23: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not travel to Kuala Lumpur for annual ASEAN meetings due to scheduling issues and he will join India’s annual summit with the 10-nation grouping virtually.
Following a phone conversation with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Modi said he was looking forward to joining the ASEAN-India summit virtually, and to further deepening comprehensive strategic partnership between the two sides.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent PM Modi at the 20th East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 27, according to an official statement.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region and India and several other countries including the US, China, Japan and Australia are its dialogue partners.
Apart from the ASEAN member states, East Asia Summit includes India, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Russia.
In a social media post, the Malaysian prime minister said he had spoken to PM Modi last night and discussed efforts to strengthen the bilateral relationship to a more strategic and comprehensive level.
The ASEAN summit and related meetings will be held in Kuala Lumpur from October 26 to 28. PM Modi has led the Indian delegations at the ASEAN-India summit and the East Asia Summit in the last few years.
“Had a warm conversation with my dear friend, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia. Congratulated him on Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship and conveyed best wishes for the success of upcoming Summits,” Modi said on ‘X’.
“Look forward to joining the ASEAN-India Summit virtually, and to further deepening of the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” he said.
People familiar with the matter said PM Modi is not travelling to Kuala Lumpur due to scheduling issues.
Malaysian PM Ibrahim said Modi told him that he would attend the India-ASEAN summit online since the “Deepavali festival was still being celebrated”.
“India remains an important partner for Malaysia in the fields of trade and investment, in addition to close cooperation in the sectors of technology, education, and regional security,” he said.
“We also touched on the organization of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur at the end of this month.”
Ibrahim said PM Modi “informed him that he will attend virtually due to the ongoing Deepavali celebrations in India at that time”.
“I respect his decision and extended my greetings for a happy Deepavali to him and the entire people of India,” he said.
Malaysia will remain committed to strengthening relations with India and further enhancing ASEAN-India cooperation towards a more peaceful and prosperous region, he added.
The Ministry of External Affairs said PM Modi will virtually attend the 22nd ASEAN-India summit on October 26.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ASEAN leaders will jointly review the progress in ASEAN-India relations and discuss initiatives for strengthening Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” it said.
The MEA said strengthening the relationship with ASEAN is a key pillar of India’s Act East Policy and its Indo-Pacific vision.
It said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 20th East Asia Summit on October 27.
“The East Asia Summit will provide an opportunity to deliberate on the challenges to peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and also exchange views on regional and international developments,”the MEA said.
The ASEAN-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of a sectoral partnership in 1992. This graduated to full dialogue partnership in December 1995 and summit level partnership in 2002.
The ties were elevated to a strategic partnership in 2012.
The 10 member countries of ASEAN are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
The two-way relations between India and ASEAN have been on a significant upswing in the last few years with focus being on boosting cooperation in the areas of trade and investment as well as security and defence.
