Prime Minister Narendra Modi departed for Indonesia on Wednesday for the ASEAN-India Summit and East Asia Summit in Jakarta.
Prime Minister said that he is looking forward to exchanging views with other leaders on practical cooperation measures to collectively address the global challenges. He also termed the engagement with the ASEAN group as an important pillar of India’s ‘Act East Policy’.
“During his visit, Prime Minister will attend the 20th ASEAN-India Summit and 18th East Asia Summit being hosted by Indonesia as current Chair of ASEAN. The forthcoming ASEAN-India Summit will be the first Summit since the elevation of India-ASEAN relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2022. The Summit will review the progress of India-ASEAN relations and chart the future direction of co-operation,” read a press release by the Ministry of External Affairs.
“The East Asia Summit would provide an opportunity for Leaders of ASEAN countries and its eight dialogue partners, including India, to exchange views on issues of regional and global significance,” the release says.
“Our focus has been on enhancing comprehensive connectivity with ASEAN in all aspects, including physical, digital, economic, and people-to-people. In August this year, India and Indonesia established direct flight connectivity through Indigo and Batik Air flights. We also have started direct flights with Vietnam. Earlier in February, Prime Minister, along with his Singapore counterpart, launched the real-time cross-border payment link between UPI and Singapore’s Pay Now. We are looking at ways to expand this to other ASEAN countries,” said Secretary (East) Saurabh Kumar at a special media briefing here in New Delhi.
PM Modi will return to New Delhi on Thursday evening ahead of the G20 Summit, which will be held on September 9 and 10.