At East Asia Summit, PM Modi reaffirms India's focus on free and open Indo-Pacific

New Delhi, Oct 27: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday participated in 16th East Asia Summit and reaffirmed India's focus on a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and the principle of "ASEAN Centrality" in the region.

"India remains committed to strengthening respect for shared values of multilateralism, rules-based international order, international law and sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations," PM Modi tweeted.

India remains committed to strengthening respect for shared values of multilateralism, rules-based international order, international law and sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.

I look forward to participating in the 18th ASEAN-India Summit tomorrow.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 27, 2021

"I look forward to participating in the 18th ASEAN-India Summit tomorrow," the prime minister added.

PM Modi emphasised the importance of a resilient global value chain. He also reiterated India's commitment to providing Quad sponsored vaccines to Indo-Pacific countries.

During his address, PM Modi recalled India's support of 1 million US dollars to the ASEAN COVID-19 Recovery Fund. He stressed the importance of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. PM also raised the idea of developing global standards on cyber security.

The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region, and India and several other countries including the US, China, Japan and Australia are its dialogue partners.

The ties between India and ASEAN have been on an upswing in the last few years with the focus being on ramping up cooperation in the areas of trade and investment as well as security and defence.

The East Asia Summit is the premier forum in the Asia-Pacific region to deal with issues relating to security and defence. Since its inception in 2005, it has played a significant role in the strategic, geopolitical and economic evolution of East Asia.

Apart from the ASEAN member states, East Asia Summit includes India, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia.

The East Asia Summit is the premier Leaders-led forum in the Indo-Pacific. Since its inception in 2005, it has played a significant role in the strategic and geopolitical evolution of East Asia.