PM Modi Likely to Skip ASEAN and East Asia Summits; No Meeting with Trump This Year
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reportedly unlikely to travel to Malaysia for the upcoming ASEAN and East Asia summits. He has previously been a regular attendee at both high-level gatherings. It is anticipated that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will represent India at these significant meetings. This marks only the second time in the last decade that Prime Minister Modi will be skipping the ASEAN summit, an event he has consistently prioritized in his foreign policy outreach to Southeast Asia.
Officials have confirmed that there will be no bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump this year, as they are not scheduled to meet at these summits. While President Trump is expected to attend the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister Modi’s focus in November will be on the G20 summit in South Africa, which President Trump will not attend. Concurrently, uncertainty persists regarding the scheduling of the Quad summit, which India is slated to host later this year.
Malaysia has extended invitations to both US President Donald Trump and several leaders from ASEAN partner countries for the forthcoming summit in Kuala Lumpur. President Trump is expected to commence a two-day visit to the Malaysian capital starting October 26.
The ASEAN-India partnership, initially established as a sectoral dialogue in 1992, progressed to become a full dialogue partnership in 1995 and was elevated to summit level in 2002. A decade later, in 2012, this relationship was further strengthened into a strategic partnership, signifying a crucial milestone in regional diplomacy.
The ASEAN bloc is composed of 10 member states: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. In recent years, India’s engagement with ASEAN has demonstrated consistent growth, reflecting New Delhi’s ‘Act East’ policy. There has been a strong emphasis on enhancing cooperation across various sectors, including trade, investment, security, and defense, underscoring ASEAN’s pivotal role in fostering regional stability.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim recently disclosed that he had a phone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The discussion focused on exploring avenues to elevate the Malaysia-India partnership to a “more strategic and comprehensive level.”