The maiden India-ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting was held on November 22 at Siem Reap, Cambodia to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of India-ASEAN relations in 2022, which has also been designated as ‘ASEAN-India Friendship Year’.
- The meeting was co-chaired by Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence of Cambodia General Tea Banh.
Key points
- The Defence Minister, in his address, highlighted the historic and robust ties that India shares with ASEAN countries.
- India-ASEAN relationship was elevated recently to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the ASEAN-India Summit held in Cambodia on November 12, 2022.
- During this maiden India-ASEAN Defence Ministers meeting, Shri Singh proposed two major initiatives for further expanding the scope and the depth of the India-ASEAN defence relations.
- One of the initiatives proposed by Defence Minister was the ‘India-ASEAN Initiative for Women in UN Peace Keeping Operations’ which includes conduct of tailor-made courses for women peacekeepers of ASEAN Member States at the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping in India and conduct of a ‘Table Top Exercise’ in India for women officers from ASEAN incorporating facets of UN peacekeeping challenges.
- The second initiative announced by Shri Rajnath Singh was ‘India-ASEAN Initiative on Marine Plastic Pollution’ which includes channelising of the energy of the youth towards addressing the critical issue of marine pollution.
