Rajnath to attend ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus Meeting during his Cambodia visit

New Delhi, November 21, 2022

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will attend the ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus meeting and the India-ASEAN Defence Ministers meeting during his visit to Cambodia on November 22-23.

The visit is at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence of Cambodia Tea Banh.

Cambodia, as the chair of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus (ADMM Plus) meeting, is hosting the 9th annual meeting at Siem Reap. Rajnath Singh will address the forum on November 23. He will also call on the Prime Minister of Cambodia.

To commemorate 30 years of India-ASEAN relations, India and Cambodia will co-chair the maiden India-ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting on November 22. Rajnath Singh will preside over the meeting. Various initiatives to boost the India-ASEAN partnership are planned to be announced during the meeting.

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 and cooperation among ASEAN and the Plus countries. India and ASEAN have elevated their relationship to a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ this month.

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

NNN