Bangkok, August 01: Welcoming ASEAN's decision to articulate cordial views on PM Modi’s enunciation at Shangri-La Dialogue in June 2018 of a free, open, inclusive and rules based Indo Pacific, of which India is an important part, EAM S Jaishankar on Wednesday visited the Thai capital Bangkok on a two day visit to attend Asean-India Ministerial Meeting.
“We see important elements of convergence especially from standpoint of principles and approach. This provides a roadmap to advance ASEAN India strategic partnership in Indo Pacific, particularly in areas of maritime cooperation, connectivity and achieving sustainable development goals”, he added further while addressing the forum.
The Minister is slated to meet the US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo in a bilateral meeting at Bangkok. This will be the first time the two ministers will meet after US President Donald Trump’s recent controversial remark in which he had claimed that PM Modi had asked for his mediation on the Kashmir issue.
The External Affairs Minister further enumerated India’s Indo-Pacific vision, which was elaborated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore in June, 2018.
Jaishankar is also set to hold a number of bilateral meetings with his counterparts on the sidelines of the ASEAN related multilateral meetings, being the 9th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (EAS FMM), 26th Asean Regional Forum (ARF) and 10th Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Ministerial Meeting.