The Foreign Ministry made the announcement about S Jaishankar’s participation. (Archive)
New Delhi:
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at a virtual summit of the East Asia Summit (EAS) on Saturday.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEA) made the announcement about the participation of Mr. Jaishankar in the 15th summit of the grouping.
The summit will be chaired by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and will feature the participation of all 18 EAS countries, the MEA said.
The East Asia Summit is the main forum in the Asia-Pacific region to discuss security and defense issues. Since its inception in 2005, it has played an important role in the strategic, geopolitical and economic evolution of East Asia.
The MEA said the summit will discuss ways and means to strengthen the EAS platform and make it more responsive to emerging challenges on its 15th anniversary.
“The leaders will also exchange views on issues of international and regional concern, including the COVID-19 pandemic and cooperation among EAS participating countries to achieve a rapid and sustainable economic recovery,” the MEA said.
“The East Asia Summit is a premier, leader-led forum for discussions on important strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific, and a leading confidence-building mechanism in the region,” he said.
The MEA said that India strongly believes that the ASEAN-led frameworks, of which EAS is an important part, are at the core of the regional security architecture and should be further strengthened.
In addition to the 10 ASEAN member states, the East Asia Summit includes India, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia.
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