External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be on a week-long visit to Indonesia and Thailand beginning Wednesday for meetings, including with counterparts of the ASEAN and BIMSTEC groupings. During his visit to Indonesia, Jaishankar will meet his counterparts under the ASEAN framework in the format – ASEAN-India, East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum over two days beginning Thursday.
He will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from other countries, an External Affairs Ministry statement said. “India’s engagement with this ASEAN centred regional architecture signifies India’s strong commitment to ASEAN centrality in the Indo-Pacific,” it said.
After Jakarta, Jaishankar will travel to Bangkok to participate in the 12th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Mechanism on Sunday. MGC, one of the oldest mechanisms of the lower Mekong region, is guided by India’s Act East Policy, the External Affairs Ministry said.
The MGC is an initiative by India, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam to facilitate closer connections between the six member countries which share the Ganga river and Mekong river basins. In Bangkok, Jaishankar will also attend the BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers’ Retreat on July 17.
BIMSTEC is an economic and technical initiative which brings together the countries of Bay of Bengal for multifaceted cooperation. The retreat would discuss ways to further deepen the BIMSTEC agenda and strengthen the organisation.
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