Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to give the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Malaysia a miss due to scheduling constraints, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar likely to represent India at the event, sources said.
The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit will likely take place in Kuala Lumpur from 26 to 28 October.
While there has been no official announcement regarding India’s level of participation, sources indicated that India has informed Malaysian authorities of Jaishankar’s attendance at the ASEAN meetings.
There remains a possibility that the Prime Minister may join the ASEAN-India Summit virtually.
Since assuming office in 2014, PM Modi has skipped only one East Asia Summit (EAS), the 17th edition held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in November 2022.
With the 20th EAS in Kuala Lumpur just days away, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday refrained from confirming whether the Prime Minister would attend the ASEAN or EAS sessions in person.
Meanwhile, Malaysian officials and local media have reported that PM Modi is likely to be among the world leaders attending the summit, alongside US President Donald Trump, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and others.
In previous years, the Prime Minister has led India’s delegations at both the ASEAN-India Summit and the East Asia Summit.
The ASEAN bloc consists of 10 nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.
India’s engagement with ASEAN has deepened in recent years, with growing cooperation in trade, investment, defence, and security.
According to earlier plans, PM Modi was to visit both Malaysia and Cambodia as part of a two-nation tour.
However, sources said PM Modi’s decision to skip Malaysia has also led to the postponement of his planned Cambodia visit.
Malaysia has extended invitations to several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, who is likely to visit Kuala Lumpur from 26 to 27 October.
India’s partnership with ASEAN began as a sectoral dialogue in 1992, becoming a full dialogue partnership in 1995 and a summit-level partnership in 2002.
The relationship, elevated to a strategic partnership in 2012, remains strong.
Since attending his first East Asia Summit in Myanmar in 2014, PM Modi has participated in subsequent editions in Malaysia (2015), Laos (2016), the Philippines (2017), Singapore (2018), and Thailand (2019).
The 2020 and 2021 summits, hosted by Vietnam and Brunei, respectively, were held online due to the pandemic.
He later attended the 2023 and 2024 summits in Indonesia and Laos, marking India’s continued engagement with the ASEAN and East Asia platforms.
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