Vice President Dhankhar calls for free and open Indo-Pacific region at the 17th East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh

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Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar speaking at the 17th East Asia Summit meeting being held in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on 13 November 2022 highlighted  India’s concern on food and security  and emphasized the role of the East Asia Summit (EAS) in promoting free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific with freedom of navigation and overflight.

The 17th EAS is being hosted by the current ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nations) chairman Cambodia.

Earlier speaking in the summit the American President Joe Biden and the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also highlighted the aggressive behaviour of China in the South China Sea and called for peace in the Taiwan Strait and ensuring freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar also called upon the EAS members’ full contribution to the International Year of Millets in 2023.

Vice President visit to Cambodia 

The Vice President was on a three day (11-13 November) visit to Cambodia to attend the 19th India-ASEAN summit meeting which has been designated as the commemorative summit, to mark the 30 years of Indian ASEAN relationship.

This year is also being celebrated as ASEAN-India Friendship Year.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is accompanying Vice-President Dhankhar on this visit.

Observer Research Foundation signs Mou with AVI 

On the sideline of the summit meeting Observer Research Foundation (ORF) of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a leading Cambodian think tank AVI.

The two institutions engaged in the realm of public policy will endeavour to cooperate more closely to enhance their mutual understanding on a range of issues from geopolitics and international relations to sustainable development and cultural engagement. 

East Asia Summit 

• The East Asia summit group consists of 18 countries. 
• The concept of an East Asia Grouping was first promoted in 1991 by the then Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir bin Mohamad.
• It was set up in 2005 as a forum to promote strategic dialogue and cooperation on political, security and economic issues of common regional concern in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Initially it consisted of ASEAN members (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam) and China, Japan ,South Korea, India, Australia and  New Zealand.
• The  United States of America and  Russia were included in  2011.