1. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar will represent India at the 15th East Asia Summit (EAS) on 14 November 2020. The virtual Summit Meeting will be Chaired by the Prime Minister of Vietnam H.E. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and will see the participation from all the eighteen EAS countries.

2. The Summit Meeting will discuss ways and means to strengthen the EAS platform and to make it more responsive to emerging challenges on its 15th anniversary. The Leaders will also exchange views on issues of international and regional interest including the COVID-19 pandemic and the cooperation among EAS participating countries to achieve an expeditious and sustainable economic recovery.

3. The East Asia Summit is a premier Leaders-led forum for discussions on important strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific, and a leading confidence-building mechanism in the region. India strongly bepeves that the ASEAN-led frameworks of which EAS is an important part, are at the core of the regional security architecture and need to be strengthened further.

New Delhi
November 13, 2020