Defence minister Rajnath Singh to attend India-ASEAN Defence Ministers meeting during visit to Cambodia
By Anish Kumar | First Published Nov 20, 2022, 12:15 PM ISTRajnath Singh will also hold bilateral talks with the defence ministers of the participating countries and discuss defence cooperation matters and ways to further strengthen the mutually beneficial engagements.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be visiting Cambodia to participate in the 9th annual meeting of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus (ADMM Plus) to be held at Siem Reap on November 23.
Rajnath will commence his two-day visit on November 22 and will co-chair the maiden India-ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting on the same to commemorate the 30 years of two countries’ bilateral relations.
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The defence ministry said that the minister is visiting Cambodia at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence of Cambodia Samdech Pichey Sena TEA Banh.
He will also announce several initiatives to boost India-ASEAN partnership.
India in ASEAN
In 1992, New Delhi joined the ASEAN as the dialogue partner and the inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened at Hanoi in Vietnam on October 12, 2010.
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Since 2017, ADMM-Plus Ministers have been meeting annually to further the dialogue and cooperation amongst ASEAN and the Plus countries.
Earlier this month, India and ASEAN elevated their relationship to ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’.
Besides, Rajnath Singh will also hold bilateral talks with the defence ministers of the participating countries and discuss defence cooperation matters and ways to further strengthen the mutually beneficial engagements.
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It must be noted that ADMM-Plus is the only official framework of Defense Minister's meetings in the Asia-Pacific Region.
In addition to the ten countries of ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam), eight countries, including Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States participate in this framework to promote more practical defense cooperation.
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