Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is set to visit Laos from November 20-22 for the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus), as announced by Defence officials on Thursday.
Speaking earlier this week, Singh highlighted the range of security challenges India faces today, spanning from traditional border threats to emerging issues like terrorism, cyberattacks, and hybrid warfare. Addressing the Delhi Defence Dialogue on the theme “Adaptive Defence: Navigating the Changing Landscape of Modern Warfare” at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, he emphasized that the world is undergoing a period of rapid geopolitical and economic change. “We live in a time of unprecedented uncertainty, where traditional views of security are being reshaped, and the once static understanding of global issues is evolving into a more dynamic, multi-disciplinary approach,” he said. He also noted that both the conceptual and practical aspects of defence and security are significantly influenced by the digital age.
The ADMM-Plus provides a forum for ASEAN member states—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—and their eight Dialogue Partners, including India, the US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, to enhance defence and security cooperation. India became a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN in 1992, and the inaugural ADMM-Plus meeting took place in Hanoi, Vietnam, in October 2010. Since 2017, the ADMM-Plus has been held annually to strengthen ties among ASEAN and its partner nations.
With inputs from ANI.