The meeting in the capital will be accompanied by the 12th edition of the Delhi Talks, which theme is “Building Bridges in the Indo-Pacific,” All India Radio reported.

The ministerial session will be attended by Indian Foreign Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his counterparts from the Asean countries.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi called the bloc a central element in the country’s foreign policy.

Bagchi said the Asean-India foreign ministers’ meeting will mark the 30th anniversary of the dialogue relations, the 10th of the strategic partnership with Asean and stressed that 2022 was designated as the year of Asean-India friendship.

On Wednesday, Ministry of External Affairs Secretary Saurabh Kumar co-chaired the 24th Asean-India Senior Officials Meeting in New Delhi along with Singapore Permanent Secretary Albert Chua.

The meeting was attended by senior officials from other Asean member states, the Foreign Ministry website reported.

The meeting reviewed the strategic partnership between the parties and its future direction and assessed the progress of cooperation in the political, security, economic and socio-cultural fields.

The meeting deliberated on the next steps for the implementation of the Asean-India Action Plan (2021-2025) and exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest, including Covid-19 and post-pandemic recovery.

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