In a continued display of multilateral diplomacy on dominant global and regional issues, India will engage the ASEAN and the G20 groupings in the next few days. Announcing the Indian participation at the ASEAN-India summit that will take place in Cambodia, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar will lead the Indian delegation to Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh for the 19th India-ASEAN summit and the 17th East Asia Summit that will take place during November 12 and 13. The Vice-President’s visit to the region will be followed by that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will pay a three-day visit to Bali in Indonesia for the G20 leadership summit during November 14-16.
“The 19th ASEAN-India summit is being observed as a commemorative summit to mark the 30th anniversary of the ASEAN-India dialogue partnership.” said Saurabh Kumar, Secretary (East) of the MEA. During the visit, Mr. Dhankhar will hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia and other officials of the host country. He is also expected to hold discussions with other leaders on “important regional and international developments”.
“This will be the first foreign visit by the honourable Vice-President in his current capacity,” said Mr. Kumar who described Cambodia as a “reliable partner” of India’s Act East Policy. The official mentioned India’s role to stabilise Cambodia which underwent a phase of violence starting with 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took over the country. Mr. Kumar recollected India’s role in ensuring the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to Cambodia during the pandemic.
The official said that during the tour India was hopeful of concluding a few MoUs that were being worked on. The official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi also announced Mr. Modi’s visit to Bali.
The Prime Minister is expected leave late on Monday for Bali.
Mr Bagchi informed that apart from the holding bilateral talks with other G20 heads of governments and states, Mr. Modi is scheduled to “address and interact” with the members of the Indian community in Indonesia during his stay. “Three working sessions will be held as part of the G20 summit agenda — food and energy security, health and digital transformation. At the closing session of the summit, President Widodo will symbolically hand over the G20 presidency to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi,” said Mr. Bagchi.
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