Hope East Asia Summit gets more salience: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed the hope that the East Asia Summit, a premier forum of the Asean member states and eight other countries, attains more salience in the future.

"We look forward to the East Asia Summit attaining greater salience in years to come," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson quoted Modi as saying while addressing the 12th East Asia Summit here.

"I reiterate my commitment to work with you to address the political, security and economic issues of the region," Modi said.

Leaders of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) states - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - and of Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the US hold this annual summit.

The forum provides an opportunity for the leaders to exchange views and assess international issues of concern, including traditional and non-traditional security threats, primarily terrorism, maritime cooperation and security and non-proliferation.

In his speech, Modi said the Asean, which was formed in times of a great global divide and is this year celebrating the golden jubilee of its formation, "shines as a beacon of hope, a symbol of peace and prosperity".

Modi arrived here on Sunday on a three-day visit to the Philippines, the first prime ministerial visit to this country in 36 years since the visit of Indira Gandhi in 1981.

Later on Tuesday, Modi will attend the 15th India-Asean Summit. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the India-Asean dialogue partnership.

--IANS

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