PM Modi embarks on a 3-day visit to Thailand for ASEAN summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, November 2, is scheduled to embark on a three-day visit to Thailand to participate in the ASEAN, East Asia, and RCEP summits. On the first day of his visit, the Prime Minister will address the Indian community living in Thailand and will also launch the commemorative coin marking the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, as well as the release of a Thai translation of Tamil classic Tirukkural, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) 

On November 3, PM Modi will co-chair the 16th ASEAN-India summit with Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who has invited PM Modi to Thailand.

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"The ASEAN-related summits are an integral part of our diplomatic calendar. This will be Prime Minister Modi's seventh ASEAN-India summit and sixth East Asia Summit," Ministry of External Affairs' Secretary (East) Vijay Thakur Singh had said during a press briefing on Thursday. "Last year, in January, you would recall that India had hosted the 25th-anniversary commemorative summit of Indo-ASEAN in which all the 10 ASEAN leaders had participated. Then, the Delhi Declaration was adopted wherein it was agreed to further strengthen and deepen the ASEAN-India strategic partnership," she added. 

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Assessment of progress

The meeting will make an assessment of the progress made in the relationship between India and the ASEAN member countries. Several Indian initiatives are currently implemented in this regard, such as New Delhi's commitment to offering 1,000 PhD scholarships to ASEAN students at the IITs. With the budget of around Rs 300 crores, the initiative is said to be the largest human resource initiative for the ASEAN member nations by India and for any of the member nations’ dialogue partners. 

The initiative was launched in September this year by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal together. 

"Strengthening ASEAN and ASEAN-led mechanisms, enhancing connectivity, whether it is sea, land, air, digital, people-to-people, deepening our economic partnership, enhancing cooperation in the digital domain, including cybersecurity, and improving marine-time cooperation are some of the key themes of India-ASEAN cooperation," Vijay Thakur Singh said. 

"The theme of this has been chosen by Thailand. In fact, Thailand, under its chairmanship, is promoting the themes advancing partnerships for sustainability. So, we are also working to support this theme and contributing to the discussions that are taking place," she added. 

On the sidelines of the three summits, the Prime Minister will hold several bilateral talks. He will return to New Delhi on the evening of November 4. 

(With ANI inputs)

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