Modi re-affirms India's focus on free Indo-Pacific | Economic Times

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reaffirmed India's focus on a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and support for ASEAN's centrality in the region. Modi made the comments while participating virtually at 16th East Asia Summit hosted by Brunei. The prime minister said 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. "Participated in the 16th East Asia Summit hosted by Brunei through video conference. Re-affirmed India's focus on a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and the principle of ASEAN Centrality in the region," Modi tweeted. Modi said he was looking forward to participating at the 18th ASEAN-India summit on Thursday. 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.