Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to travel to the Philippines next week to attend the 23rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India Summit and the 21st meeting of the ASEAN-led East Asia Summit process, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
The visit will take place from November 16 to 18, Rudrendra Tandon, Secretary (East) at the MEA, announced during a special media briefing in New Delhi on Thursday.
The Prime Minister’s programme in Manila will include a dinner hosted by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for the visiting dignitaries, followed by the ASEAN-India Summit and the East Asia Summit the next day, with bilateral meetings with other leaders in between. The visit will take place from November 16 to 18, Rudrendra Tandon, Secretary (East) at the MEA, announced during a special media briefing in New Delhi on Thursday. Tandon said ASEAN has emerged as a major trading partner for India, with trade with the entire region at approximately 122 billion.
“In addition to a very active bilateral relationship with all 11 ASEAN member states, we see our engagement with the ASEAN regional platform also as a key element or building block of our Act East policy,” Tandon said. “There is also a very strong demand from the Indian community to meet the Prime Minister, so we are trying to adjust that also in his schedule,” he said. “We in India strongly believe that, as an Indian Ocean country that abuts this very important Southeast Asian maritime zone, a strong strategic relationship with the ASEAN member states, as a collective as well as individually, is good for both of us,” he said.
