Jaishankar meets US’s Blinken on sidelines of ASEAN Summit

Phnom Penh: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday met United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the 19th ASEAN Summit.

Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar said, “A good meeting with US Secretary of State
@SecBlinken. Discussed Ukraine, Indo-Pacific, energy, G20 and bilateral relations.”

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is accompanying Jaishankar, also met US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the 17th East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The Vice President is participating in the 17th East Asia Summit which comprises the ten ASEAN member states and its eight dialogue partners- India, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia.

Jaishankar, on November 12, also met United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the ASEAN gala dinner.

He also met the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai. “Discussed our shared regional concerns and the strengthening partnership with ASEAN,” he said in a tweet.

The external affairs minister also met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Singapore FM Vivian Balakrishnan and Indonesia’s FM Retno Marsudi.

“Pleasure to meet FM @DmytroKuleba of Ukraine. Our discussions covered recent developments in the conflict, the grain initiative and nuclear concerns,” tweeted Jaishankar.

The ASEAN-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of a sectoral partnership in 1992. This graduated to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995 and a summit-level partnership in 2002.

The ties were elevated to a strategic partnership in 2012.

The ASEAN comprises Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar.