PM Modi Will Attend India-ASEAN And East Asia Summit in Jakarta

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave on a two-day visit to Indonesia on the night of 6 September 2023 to attend the 20th India-ASEAN Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit.

Both these summits are being organised on the sidelines of the 43rd ASEAN Summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Jakarta on the special invitation of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

• Both these summits are being hosted by Indonesia, the current chair of ASEAN, in Jakarta on 7 September 2023.
• According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the India-ASEAN summit is being organised for the first time after the status of India-ASEAN relations was raised to the level of strategic partnership last year.

Theme of the summit:

• The theme of this year's ASEAN Summit is "ASEAN Affairs: The Center for Development".
• According to the ministry, during the summit, the Prime Minister will review the progress in India-ASEAN relations. India's relations with ASEAN countries are a cornerstone of India's Act East Policy and its vision of the broader Indo-Pacific.
• During the summit, the Prime Minister and other leaders will discuss ways to further strengthen the East Asia Summit mechanism, as well as exchange views on matters of regional and international interest.
• The ASEAN summit is being held at a time when the G-20 summit is being organized in Delhi on September 9 and 10. Presidents or Prime Ministers as heads of states of various countries of the world including America, Britain, France, Bangladesh, China, Japan, Canada, Australia etc are coming to India to participate in this conference.
• Prime Minister Modi's visit will be short due to the G-20 summit. For the early return of Prime Minister Modi, Indonesia has made arrangements for the ASEAN and East Asia Summit on 7th September itself.

Trade and security will be the main issues of talks:

• PM Modi's talks with the leaders of the grouping is likely to focus mainly on strengthening India's trade and security ties with ASEAN.
• ASEAN is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region and has dialogue partners including India, the US, China, Japan and Australia, among others.

10 countries of ASEAN:

• The 10 ASEAN member countries include Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN):

• ASEAN was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand as a regional organisation of Southeast Asian countries.
• ASEAN is currently considered one of the most influential groupings in the region.
• India and several other countries including the US, China, Japan and Australia are dialogue partners.
• Relations between India and ASEAN have grown significantly in the last few years.
• ASEAN focuses on expanding cooperation in the areas of trade and investment as well as defence and security.

East Asia-Summit (EAS):

• In 1991, the concept of the East Asia Group was first introduced by the then Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir bin Mohamad.
• EAS was launched in the year 2005 as an initiative led by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
• EAS is the only leadership forum in the Indo-Pacific region that brings together all major players to negotiate political, security and economic issues of strategic importance.
• The first summit of EAS was held on 14 December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• The members of the East Asia Summit represent about 54 percent of the world's population and account for about 58 percent of global GDP.

Member of EAS:

• Currently, EAS consists of 18 member states: 10 ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) while eight dialogue partner countries (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States of America).
• India is one of the founding members of the East Asia Summit.

Indonesia:

• Capital: Jakarta
• Currency: Indonesian Rupiah
• President: Joko Widodo