Maritime cooperation in the backdrop of China’s aggressive posturing in the South China Sea will be high on the agenda…
ASEAN
Maritime cooperation in the backdrop of China’s aggressive posturing in the South China Sea will be high on the agenda when India and ASEAN hold their commemorative summit in the Indian capital on Thursday, official sources said.
Leaders of ten ASEAN nations started arriving here on Wednesday to participate in the commemorative summit and India’s Republic Day parade as ‘Guests of Honour’.
Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was the first to arrive in the Indian capital followed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Seven other ASEAN leaders are scheduled to arrive later on Wednesday evening while Indonesian President Joko Widodo will reach here on Thursday afternoon. The ASEAN comprises Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos and Brunei. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold separate bilateral meetings with all the ten visiting leaders on the sidelines of the summit.
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On Thursday, PM Modi will address the plenary of the commemorative summit. He will also release a set of commemorative stamps in the presence of the leaders to mark the occasion. An exhibition of 20 paintings of an ASEAN-India Artists Camp will be held at the venue of the plenary session.
President Ram Nath Kovind will host a luncheon banquet in honour of the ASEAN leaders. It will be followed by a ‘Leaders’ Retreat’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan in which Modi and the ASEAN leaders will take part.
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