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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually attend the 22nd ASEAN-India Summit on October 26 at the invitation of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Thursday.
The summit, hosted by Malaysia, will review the progress of ASEAN-India relations and discuss new initiatives to strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The MEA said that strengthening relations with ASEAN remains a key pillar of India's Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific vision. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ASEAN leaders will jointly review the progress in ASEAN-India relations and discuss initiatives for strengthening Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," the statement read. The following day, on October 27, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent the Prime Minister at the 20th East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur. The East Asian summit will provide an opportunity to deliberate on challenges to peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and exchange views on regional and international developments. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi shared details of his conversation with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. In a post on X, he said, "Had a warm conversation with my dear friend, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia. Congratulated him on Malaysia's ASEAN Chairmanship and conveyed best wishes for the success of upcoming Summits." He added, "Look forward to joining the ASEAN-India Summit virtually, and to further deepening of the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership."Confirming this, Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday said that PM Modi would not be travelling to Kuala Lumpur for the 47th ASEAN Summit, but would attend it virtually. "We touched on the organization of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur at the end of this month. He informed me that he will attend virtually due to the ongoing Deepavali celebrations in India at that time," Ibrahim said. He added, "I respect his decision and extended my greetings for a happy Deepavali to him and the entire people of India."Detailing his recent conversation with a colleague of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ibrahim highlighted efforts to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries. "Last night, I received a phone call from a colleague of the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Narendra Modi, to discuss efforts to strengthen Malaysia-India bilateral relations to a more strategic and comprehensive level. India remains an important partner for Malaysia in the fields of trade and investment, in addition to close cooperation in the sectors of technology, education, and regional security," Anwar said. He concluded by reaffirming Malaysia's commitment to bilateral and regional cooperation. "Malaysia will remain committed to strengthening Malaysia-India relations and further enhancing ASEAN-India cooperation towards a more peaceful and prosperous region," he said. Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) announced his upcoming diplomatic trip to Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan, highlighting a significant meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.Trump also revealed that he cancelled a planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing a lack of progress in diplomatic efforts. "It didn't feel right to me," Trump said, adding that he didn't want a "wasted meeting." Speaking about his trip, Trump said, "Next week, we'll be going to Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. In South Korea, I'll be meeting with President Xi of China. We'll have a pretty long meeting scheduled. We can work out a lot of our questions and our doubts and our tremendous assets together... We cancelled the meeting with President Putin. It didn't feel right to me. It didn't feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get, so I cancelled it..." The cancellation of the Putin summit follows Russia's rejection of Trump's proposed ceasefire plan in Ukraine. Trump is optimistic about his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, hoping to leverage their discussion to end the Russia-Ukraine war. He plans to discuss energy and oil with Xi, aiming to pressure Russia into negotiating a peace agreement. (ANI)
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