Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday for the 12th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus), where he addressed the forum on reflecting 15 years of ADMM-Plus and charting the way forward.

The meeting gathers defence ministers from ASEAN member states and eight Dialogue Partners, including India, the US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, to strengthen security and defence cooperation in the region.

The ADMM is the highest defence consultative mechanism within ASEAN, with ADMM-Plus held annually since 2017 to bolster cooperation among ASEAN and its partners.​

India has been a dialogue partner of ASEAN since 1992 and currently co-chairs the Experts Working Group on Counter-Terrorism with Malaysia for the 2024-2027 cycle under the ADMM-Plus framework. 

During his visit, Rajnath Singh also participated in the second ASEAN-India Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting, highlighting India’s contribution to peace, regional stability, and the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with ASEAN, especially focusing on defence and security cooperation for 2026-2030.

Initiatives like the ASEAN-India Women in UN Peacekeeping Operations and Defence Think-Tank Interaction were announced. The Defence Minister of Malaysia praised India as a superpower and its rising defence industry capabilities.​

On the sidelines of ADMM-Plus, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a significant bilateral meeting with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. They signed a landmark 10-year Framework for the US-India Major Defence Partnership, marking a new era in the defence relationship.

The framework sets a unified long-term policy direction to deepen military cooperation, enhance capacity, and jointly pursue projects across the Indo-Pacific region. Rajnath Singh described the agreement as the start of a "new chapter" in bilateral defence ties and emphasised its importance for ensuring a free, open, and rules-based Indo-Pacific region.

Hegseth echoed the sentiment, calling the framework a “cornerstone for regional stability and deterrence” and underscoring the strong and growing strategic partnership.​

This new pact reflects India’s Act East Policy and its commitment to strengthening multilateral defence cooperation within ASEAN and beyond. It fortifies defence collaboration in areas spanning joint exercises, innovation, industrial cooperation, and maritime security, aligning well with the shared interests of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific.​

Rajnath Singh’s visit to Kuala Lumpur for ADMM-Plus not only reaffirms India's role in regional security cooperation but also marks a decisive milestone in India-US defence relations with the signing of the decade-long framework agreement, signalling a robust future for bilateral and regional defence partnerships.​

Based On ANI Report