Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrives in Laos to attend 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting

New Delhi: In order to attend the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM Plus), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh traveled to Vientiane on Wednesday. At Wattay International Airport, he was greeted by Maj. Gen. Pasith Thiengtham, the Lao PDR’s Deputy Minister of National Defense.

Singh is scheduled to have bilateral meetings with China, Laos, and Malaysia, according to government sources. He will engage with a group of members of the Indian community in Laos later in the day.

“I’m heading to Vientiane to attend the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) in Lao PDR,” the defense minister said before departing Delhi. The conference will cover a range of regional and global security issues. Separate bilateral discussions with my colleagues from the other participating countries would also take place. Anticipating it.
The meeting between Indian Defense Minister Dong Jun and Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun on the fringes of the summit is one of the event’s many significant aspects. It is expected that the next stage of the peace-building effort on the Line of Actual Control may be discussed.

From November 20 to 22, 2024, Singh will be in Vientiane for the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus). To address urgent security issues including disaster management and marine safety, the summit brings together defense ministers from ASEAN nations as well as eight important allies, including China, India, and the United States.

The highest level of ASEAN’s defense consultation and cooperation mechanism is ADMM. The purpose of ADMM-Plus is to enhance security and defense cooperation between ASEAN member states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and their eight Dialogue Partners (India, US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand).

In 1992, India joined ASEAN as a conversation partner, and on October 12, 2010, the first ADMM-Plus meeting took place in Hanoi, Vietnam. The purpose of the yearly meetings of ADMM-Plus Ministers since 2017 has been to strengthen ASEAN-Plus collaboration. The 11th ADMM-Plus will be hosted and chaired by the Lao PDR.