PM Modi to visit Laos to attend ASEAN-India Summit meet this week
The Asean-India Summit will review the progress of relations between the two sides through the comprehensive strategic partnership
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Laos during October 10-11 to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-India Summit and the East Asia Summit to drive cooperation and economic ties with the regional bloc.
Laos is the current chair of the 10-member grouping and Modi is travelling to Vientiane at the invitation of his counterpart Sonexay Siphandone, the external affairs ministry said on Tuesday. He is expected to hold several bilateral meetings on the margins of the summits.
The two summits are the main mechanisms for India’s engagement with Asean, whose members include key bilateral partners such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. The East Asia Summit brings together the members of Asean with eight key dialogue partners such as India, Australia, China, Japan, Russia and the US.
“India is marking a decade of the Act East policy this year. Relations with Asean are a central pillar of the Act East policy and our Indo-Pacific vision,” the external affairs ministry said.
There has been speculation as to whether Modi will meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the margins of the East Asia Summit and against the backdrop of the dragging military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which is into its fifth year and has taken bilateral ties to an all-time low. However, there was no official word from both sides on the possibility of such a meeting.
The Asean-India Summit will review the progress of relations between the two sides through the comprehensive strategic partnership and chart the future direction of cooperation, the ministry said.
The East Asia Summit, a “premier leaders-led forum that contributes to building an environment of strategic trust in the region”, will be an opportunity for participating countries to exchange views on issues of regional importance, it added.
Over a decade of the “Act East” policy, the engagements between India and Asean have grown into robust cooperation in trade and investment, defence and security, connectivity including fintech, heritage conservation and capacity building, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
In recent months, Modi received his counterparts from Vietnam and Malaysia in New Delhi. Modi also visited Brunei and Singapore in September to take forward ties in a wide range of areas, including trade, fintech, digitalisation and space.
The visit to Brunei was the first bilateral visit to that country by an Indian premier. During these visits, India’s relations with both Malaysia and Singapore were elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership, while India-Brunei ties were elevated to an enhanced partnership.
India and Singapore signed an MoU on creating a semiconductor ecosystem partnership and agreed to make advanced manufacturing, particularly for developing resilient semiconductor supply chains, a new pillar of bilateral cooperation.
With Timor-Leste set to become the 11th member of Asean, India recently operationalised a resident mission in Dili.
Direct flights between Phnom Penh in Cambodia and New Delhi commenced in June 2024, and direct flights between India and Brunei are likely to begin soon. In Vietnam, an army software park established with an Indian grant of $5 million at the Telecommunications University, Nha Trang, was launched in August.
In the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi, India provided 45 tonnes of emergency humanitarian assistance to Laos and Vietnam.