Vietnam invited India to take part in the ASEAN virtual summit that will take place from November 13-15. Hanoi, which is the chair of the ASEAN for 2020 has invited all 10 dialogue partners for the annual summit.

10 dialogue partners of ASEAN are Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia, the United States, and the European Union.

India has increased its engagement with ASEAN and earlier this year, new ASEAN-India Plan of Action (2021-2025) was adopted. Last year, India for launched 1,000 doctoral fellowships for ASEAN students at Indian institutes of technology which will help in the development of ASEAN’s human capital.

The summit which happens in the backdrop of COVID crisis and Chinese aggressiveness is bound to be the focal point of the world’s attention. This especially since, the Quad foreign ministers in recent quad meet had reaffirmed ASEAN centrality in the Indo pacific construct.

In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had travelled to Thailand in November for the ASEAN summit.