New Delhi to host two day Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers' meeting beginning today

India is hosting the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi from today to mark the 30th anniversary of dialogue relations. It also marks the 10th anniversary of India's Strategic Partnership with ASEAN.

External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Foreign Minister of Singapore Vivian Balakrishnan will co-chair the meeting. Foreign Ministers of other ASEAN Member State and ASEAN Secretary-General will participate in the meeting.

ASEAN-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of sectoral partnership in 1992 which graduated to full dialogue partnership in December 1995, Summit level Partnership in 2002, and Strategic partnership in 2012.

The year 2022 has been designated as ASEAN-India Friendship Year. Today, ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership stands on a strong foundation.

ASEAN is central to India’s Act East Policy and its vision for the wider Indo-Pacific. This multi-faceted partnership encompasses many sectoral dialogue mechanisms and



working groups that meet regularly at various levels and include annual Summit, Ministerial and Senior Officials’ meetings.

The ongoing India-ASEAN collaboration is guided by the Plan of Action 2021-2025 which was adopted in 2020. While ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting hosted by ASEAN Chair is an annual event, the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting is the first such Meeting hosted by India in New Delhi.

The Meeting will be preceded by 24th ASEAN-India Senior Officials Meeting which was held yesterday.

The Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will be accompanied by the 12th edition of Delhi Dialogue, a premier Track 1.5 Dialogue in ASEAN-India calendar, which is hosted by India.

The theme of the Dialogue is Building Bridges in the Indo-Pacific. The Ministerial Session of the 12th edition of Delhi Dialogue will be attended by External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and the ASEAN Ministers.