External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will embark on a six-day visit to Indonesia and Thailand from Wednesday to participate in the ASEAN East Asia summit in Jakarta and Foreign Ministers meeting on Mekong Ganga Cooperation Mechanism in Bangkok.
Jaishankar will first visit Jakarta to participate in the Foreign Ministers’ Meetings under the ASEAN framework in the format – ASEAN-India, East Asia Summit, and ASEAN Regional Forum, scheduled on July 13-14.
He will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from other countries.
India’s engagement with this ASEAN-centred regional architecture signifies India’s strong commitment to ASEAN centrality in the Indo-Pacific, official sources said.
After Jakarta, he will travel to Bangkok to participate in the 12th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Mechanism on July 16.
The MGC, one of the oldest mechanisms of lower Mekong region, is guided by India’s Act East Policy.
In Bangkok, he will also attend the BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers’ Retreat on July 17. BIMSTEC is an economic and technical initiative which brings together the countries of Bay of Bengal for multifaceted cooperation. The retreat would discuss ways to further deepen the BIMSTEC agenda and strengthen the organisation.
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