S Jaishankar to visit Bangkok for Asean, EAS, MGC meets

New Delhi: External affairs minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar will be visiting the Thai Capital Bangkok on a two-day visit starting Thursday “to attend Asean-India Ministerial Meeting, the 9th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (EAS FMM), 26th Asean Regional Forum (ARF) and 10th Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Ministerial Meeting”, the MEA said on Wednesday. It is being keenly watched whether Mr. Jaishankar will meet US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo in a bilateral meeting at Bangkok. If so, it will be the first time the two ministers will meet after US President Donald Trump’s recent controversial remark in which he had claimed that PM Modi had asked for his mediation on the Kashmir issue. New Delhi had swiftly denied the claim.

“Both at the EAS FMM and ARF, the EAM will enumerate India’s Indo-Pacific vision, which was elaborated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore in June, 2018. The EAM will also hold a number of bilateral meetings with his counterparts on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related multilateral meetings,” the MEA meanwhile also said.     

In a statement, the MEA said, “The Asean-India Ministerial Meeting, co-chaired by EAM and minister of foreign affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand H.E. Don Pramudwinai on 1 August 2019, will review progress in the implementation of key decisions of the Leaders of Asean member states.”