The 14th Meeting of the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Conference and Expert Working Group (EWG) on Counter-Terrorism will be held in New Delhi from March 19 to 20, 2025.
About the Conference:
India and Malaysia will jointly co-chair the meeting.
This is the first time India will co-chair the Counter-Terrorism EWG.
Participating Countries:
10 ASEAN Member States
8 Dialogue Partner States
Representatives of Timor-Leste and the ASEAN Secretariat.
Expert Working Group (EWG):
Co-Chairmanship:
One ASEAN Member State and one Dialogue Partner are co-chairs.
Duration:
The Working Group is conducted for every three-year cycle.
Main functions:
To decide objectives, policy guidelines and guidance.
To hold regular meetings.
To conduct exercises in the third year.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Establishment: In 1967 under the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration)
Signatures of the Declaration: 5 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand)
Members: Currently 10 members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand)
Headquarters: Jakarta, Indonesia
India-ASEAN relations:
India started formal participation with ASEAN in the year 1992.
India became a dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1996
Became a summit-level partner in 2002
Relations were upgraded to a strategic partnership in 2012.
Exercises: ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise, ASEAN Solidarity Exercise, etc.