Rajnath Singh To Visit Cambodia To Attend ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus Meeting

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Cambodia from 22 to 23 November to attend ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus (ADMM Plus) meeting. 

According to the defence minister's statement, Rajnath Singh will pay an official visit to Cambodia at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence of Cambodia Samdech Pichey Sena TEA Banh.

This year, Cambodia is chairing the 9th annual meeting ADMM Plus meeting which will be hosted at Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Minister will address the forum on 23 November and also call on the Prime Minister of Cambodia.

Ministry’s statement said that to commemorate 30 years of India-ASEAN relations, India and Cambodia will co-chair the maiden India-ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting presided over by Rajnath Singh. 

According to the statement, various initiatives to boost the India-ASEAN partnership are planned to be announced during the meeting. 

India became the dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992 and the inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2010. Since 2017, ADMM-Plus Ministers have been meeting annually to further the dialogue and cooperation between ASEAN and the Plus countries. India and ASEAN elevated their relationship to a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” in November 2022.

Apart from the ADMM-Plus meeting and India-ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting, Rajnath Singh will hold bilateral discussions with the Defence Ministers of the participating countries.

During the talks, he will discuss defence cooperation matters and ways to further strengthen mutually beneficial engagements.