Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Jakarta in Indonesian from November 16 to 17 to attend the 10th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus).

Indonesia is hosting the meeting as the current chair of ADMM-Plus.

Rajnath Singh is likely to present India’s views on dealing with major security challenges facing the region at the ADMM-Plus.

On the sidelines of the ADMM-Plus meeting, Rajnath Singh will hold bilateral meetings with the defence ministers of the participating countries and discuss issues relating to defence cooperation.

ADMM-Plus

• ADMM-Plus is a platform comprising 10-nation ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and its eight dialogue partners — India, China, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States (collectively referred to as the “Plus Countries”).

• It aims to strengthen security and defence cooperation for peace, stability, and development in the region.

• The inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in Hanoi in Vietnam in October 2010.

• Since 2017, the ADMM-Plus meets annually, to allow enhanced dialogue and cooperation among ASEAN and the Plus Countries in the midst of an increasingly challenging regional security environment.

The objectives of the ADMM-Plus are:

i) To benefit ASEAN Member States in building capacity to address shared security challenges, while cognisant of the differing capacities of various ASEAN Member States.

ii) To promote mutual trust and confidence between defence establishments through greater dialogue and transparency.

iii) To enhance regional peace and stability through cooperation in defence and security, in view of the transnational security challenges the region faces.

iv) To contribute to the realisation of an ASEAN security community which, as stipulated in the Bali Concord II, embodies ASEAN’s aspiration to achieve peace, stability, democracy and prosperity in the region where ASEAN Member States live at peace with one another and with the world at large.

v) To facilitate the implementation of the Vientiane Action Programme, which calls for ASEAN to build a peaceful, secure and prosperous ASEAN, and to adopt greater outward-looking external relation strategies with our friends and Dialogue Partners.

What is ASEAN?

• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok by five countries —  Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

• There are currently 10 member states: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam.

• In November 2022, ASEAN announced that it has agreed in principle to admit East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, as the group’s 11th member. The half-island nation will also be granted observer status at high-level ASEAN meetings.

• The ASEAN Summit is the highest policy-making body in ASEAN comprising the heads of State or government of ASEAN member states. As per regular practice, the ASEAN Summit Meetings shall be held twice annually. The first ASEAN Summit was held in Bali, Indonesia on February 23-24, 1976.

• ASEAN is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region. India and several other countries, including the US, China, Japan and Australia, are its dialogue partners.

India-ASEAN relations

• ASEAN centrality has been, and will remain, an important aspect of India’s ‘Act East’ policy which is a central element in the country’s foreign policy.

• ASEAN-India dialogue relations have grown rapidly from a sectoral dialogue partnership in 1992 to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995. The relationship was further elevated with the convening of the ASEAN-India Summit in 2002 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since then the ASEAN-India Summit has been held annually.

• At the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit held in December 2012 in New Delhi, the leaders adopted the ASEAN-India Vision Statement and declared that the ASEAN-India Partnership stands elevated to a ‘Strategic Partnership’. 

• In 2022, ASEAN-India relations were elevated to ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’, that is meaningful, substantive and mutually beneficial.

• India and ASEAN registered a bilateral trade of $131.5 billion in 2022-23. The trade with ASEAN accounted for 11.3 per cent of India’s global trade in 2022-23.

• The collaboration has transcended the realm of functional cooperation to cover political and security dimensions. India participates in a series of consultative meetings with ASEAN under the ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations, which include Summit, ministerial meetings, senior officials meetings, and meetings at experts level, as well as through dialogue and cooperation frameworks initiated by ASEAN, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) 10+1, the East Asia Summit (EAS), Mekong-Ganga Cooperation and Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), which help contribute to enhancing regional dialogue and accelerating regional integration.

• India’s bilateral trade with ASEAN economies is expected to reach $300 billion by 2025, and it is the fifth largest trading partner for India following North America, EU, North-East Asia and GCC-West Asia.

• The ASEAN-India Free Trade Area has been completed with the entering into force of the ASEAN-India Agreements on Trade in Service and Investments on July 1, 2015.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store