Rajnath Singh to attend ASEAN defence ministers meet, discuss boosting ties

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will discuss defence cooperation and ways to further strengthen mutually beneficial engagements with his counterparts from ASEAN countries during his visit to Cambodia starting Tuesday.

Singh will be on an official visit from Cambodia on November 22-23 at the invitation of deputy Prime Minister and Defence minister of Cambodia Samdech Pichey Sena TEA Banh.

During his two-day visit, Singh will attend the 9th annual meeting of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus (ADMM Plus) at Siem Reap will address the forum on November 23. He will also call on the Prime Minister of Cambodia.

Cambodia, as the current chair of ASEAN, is hosting the (ADMM Plus) meeting this year.

To commemorate 30 years of India-ASEAN relations, India and Cambodia will co-chair the maiden India-ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting today presided over by Rajnath Singh.

"Various initiatives to boost the India-ASEAN partnership are planned to be announced during the meeting," read an official statement.

India became the dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992 and the inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in Hanoi, Vietnam on October 12, 2010.

Since 2017, the ADMM-Plus Ministers have been meeting annually to further the dialogue and cooperation between ASEAN and the Plus countries.

India and ASEAN elevated their relationship to a 'Comprehensive Strategic Partnership' in November 2022.

"Apart from the ADMM-Plus meeting and India-ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting, the Raksha Mantri will hold bilateral discussions with Defence Ministers of the participating countries. During the talks, Rajnath Singh will discuss defence cooperation matters and ways to further strengthen the mutually beneficial engagements," the statement added.