PM Modi unlikely to attend Asean summit in Malaysia; EAM to represent India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to travel to Malaysia to participate in the meetings related to the Asean summit beginning Sunday due to scheduling issues, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

It is learnt that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the meetings.

The Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur from October 26 to 28.

There is no official word on India's level of participation at the deliberations related to the summit.

The people cited above said India is learnt to have conveyed to Malaysia that Jaishankar will represent India at the Asean meetings.

There is a possibility of PM Modi's participation through virtual mode at the Asean-India summit.

The prime minister has led the Indian delegations at the Asean-India summit and the East Asia Summit in the last few years.

Malaysia has invited US President Donald Trump as well as leaders of several countries which are the dialogue partners of the Asean. Trump is set to travel to Kuala Lumpur on October 26 on a two-day trip.

The Asean-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of a sectoral partnership in 1992. This graduated to full dialogue partnership in December 1995 and summit level partnership in 2002.

The ties were elevated to a strategic partnership in 2012.

The 10 member countries of Asean are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

The two-way relations between India and Asean have been on a significant upswing in the last few years with focus being on boosting cooperation in the areas of trade and investment as well as security and defence.

According to the initial plan, a visit by PM Modi to Cambodia along with Malaysia was being contemplated. However, as he is not travelling to Malaysia, the planned trip to Cambodia stands postponed, the people cited above said.