Rajnath to attend ASEAN def meet in Cambodia

NEW DELHI:  Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will pay an official visit to Cambodia during November 22-23. During his two-day tour, he will be attending the ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus (ADMM Plus) meeting. 

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Sunday said, “Rajnath Singh will be addressing the Association of South-East Asian Nations Defence Ministers Plus meeting on November 23. He will also call on the Prime Minister of Cambodia.” The ADMM is the highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism in ASEAN

Apart from the ADMM-Plus meeting and India-ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting, the Defence Minister will hold bilateral discussions with Defence Ministers of the participating countries. During the talks, Rajnath Singh will discuss defence cooperation matters and ways to further strengthen the mutually beneficial engagements.

Cambodia is the chair of ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus (ADMM Plus) meeting and is hosting the 9th annual meeting. “India and Cambodia will co-chair the maiden India-ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting on November 22, presided over by Rajnath Singh. Various initiatives to boost India-ASEAN partnership are planned to be announced during the meeting,” added the MoD. 

India-ASEAN are commemorating 30 years of relations. 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 further the dialogue.