Kuala Lumpur, Oct 30 (IANS) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Malaysia on Thursday on a two-day visit to attend the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting – Plus (ADMM-Plus). High Commissioner of India to Malaysia, B N Reddy received Singh at the Subang Airbase.
The 12th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting – Plus (ADMM-Plus) is scheduled to be held in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur on November 1. Rajnath Singh will address the forum on ‘Reflection on 15 years of ADMM-Plus and Charting the Way Forward’.
“On the sidelines, the second edition of ASEAN-India Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting, under the chairmanship of Malaysia, will be held on October 31, wherein Defence Ministers from all ASEAN member countries will take part. The meeting aims to further strengthen defence and security cooperation among ASEAN member states & India and advance the Act East Policy,” read a statement issued by the Defence Ministry.
During his two-day visit to Kuala Lumpur, Singh is expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the participating ADMM-Plus nations and Malaysia’s senior leadership.
“ADMM is the highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). ADMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN member states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste & Vietnam) and its eight Dialogue Partners (India, US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia & New Zealand) to strengthen security and defence cooperation,” the statement added.
India became an ASEAN dialogue partner in 1992 and the inaugural ADMM-Plus was held in Vietnam’s Hanoi on October 12, 2010. Since 2017, ADMM-Plus is held annually to strengthen the defence cooperation between ASEAN and plus countries. Under the construct of ADMM-Plus, India is the co-chair of Experts Working Group on Counter Terrorism with Malaysia for the cycle 2024-2027. The second edition of ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise is also scheduled in 2026.
–IANS
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