Rajnath Singh lands in Laos to attend Asean defence ministers meet

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Vientiane on Wednesday to attend the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM Plus).

He was received by Maj. Gen. Pasith Thiengtham, Deputy Minister of National Defence, Lao PDR at Wattay International Airport.

As per official sources, Singh will attend bilateral with three Countries-Malaysia, Laos and China. Later, in the day he will interact with a group of people of the Indian community in Laos.

Prior to his departure from Delhi the Defence Minister said, "I'm leaving for Vientiane to attend the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) in Lao PDR. Various regional & international security Issues will be discussed during the meeting. There would also be separate bilateral meetings with my counterparts from other participating nations. Looking forward to it."

Among the many key features of the event, the meeting between Indian Defence Minister with Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun on the sidelines of the summit is an important event. It is anticipated that there could be discussion over the next phase in the peace-building process on the Line of Actual Control.

Singh will be in Vientiane to attend the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) from November 20 to 22, 2024. The summit gathers Defence ministers from ASEAN countries and eight key partners including India, China and the United States to address pressing security challenges like maritime safety and disaster management.

ADMM is the highest Defence consultative and cooperative mechanism in ASEAN. ADMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN member states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and its eight Dialogue Partners (India, US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand) to strengthen security and defence cooperation.

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, ADMM-Plus Ministers have been meeting annually to bolster the cooperation amongst ASEAN and the Plus countries. Lao PDR is the chair and host of 11th ADMM-Plus.