Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to meet with US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Malaysian Defence Minister Khaled Nordin in Kuala Lumpur, signalling India's intent to fortify defence cooperation on both bilateral and multilateral fronts.

These talks, taking place ahead of the 12th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus), reinforce India's proactive diplomatic posture in strengthening security ties across the Indo-Pacific region.

Singh's meetings precede his participation in the ADMM-Plus, the premier defence consultative forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), slated for 1 November. The minister is expected to conduct a series of high-level dialogues with multiple regional counterparts, including senior Malaysian leadership, to address pressing security challenges and regional stability concerns.

The ADMM-Plus framework unites ASEAN member states—such as Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam—with eight key Dialogue Partners: India, the United States, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. This platform fosters dialogue, joint military exercises, and defence capacity-building for collective security.

India, an ASEAN Dialogue Partner since 1992, has played a progressively active role since the first ADMM-Plus convened in 2010 in Hanoi. Since 2017, the ADMM-Plus meetings have occurred annually, offering India enhanced avenues to drive regional security initiatives and promote rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific.

For the 2024-2027 cycle, India is co-chairing the ADMM-Plus Experts’ Working Group on Counter-Terrorism alongside Malaysia. This highlights India’s commitment to regional peace and stability, with a focused agenda on improving counter-terrorism cooperation and capacity-building.

Plans are also in place for the second ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise in 2026, underscoring India’s emphasis on maritime security, freedom of navigation, and safe sea-lanes within the Indo-Pacific, aligning its defence interests closely with ASEAN’s priorities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently addressed the ASEAN-India Summit virtually, reiterating India’s resolve to cooperate on counter-terrorism, maritime security, and the expedited review of the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement. The summit resulted in a renewed Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, linking security cooperation to broader economic and sustainable development aims.

Echoing Malaysia’s 2025 ASEAN chairmanship theme of “Inclusivity and Sustainability,” India reaffirmed its backing for the ASEAN-India Plan of Action (2026-2030).

The adoption of the ASEAN-India Joint Leaders’ Statement on Sustainable Tourism, marking the Year of Tourism, further illustrates the broadening scope of India’s regional engagement from strategic security to people-to-people and institutional exchange.

Based On ANI Report