On November 14, 2020, External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar represented India at the 15th East Asia Summit (EAS) 2020 held virtually Under Viet Nam’s 2020 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Chairmanship.The summit was chaired by Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc in his capacity as ASEAN Chair.
i. Kuala Lumpur Declaration, and Ha Noi Declaration was adopted during the summit.
ii.The 15th EAS summit was held on the occasion of the 15th Anniversary of the East Asia Summit.
Participating Countries:
All the 18 countries (10 ASEAN Countries & India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, US and the Republic of Korea) participated in the summit.
Key Points:
i.During the summit, the leaders agreed to strengthen the EAS platform on its 15th Anniversary. The First EAS summit was held in December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
ii.They reaffirmed the 2005 Kuala Lumpur Declaration, and 2010 Ha Noi Declaration & 2011 Bali Declation & 2015 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the occasion of the 15th Anniversary or during the 15th EAS Summit 2020.
iii.During the Summit, the leaders adopted four other statements on
- Â Â Marine Sustainability
- Â Â Epidemics, Prevention and Response
- Â Â Women, Peace and Security
- Â Â Â Steady Growth of Regional Economy.
iv.The members called for greater cooperation in keeping global supply chains for sustainable economic recovery.
v.Key issues such as South China Sea, Situation in Koren Peninsula and Rakhine State were discussed.
Highlights from Jaishankar’s speech:
i.Jaishankar briefed EAS leaders about India’s response to Pandemic and its effort to support the international community.
ii.He emphasized on respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty, and promoting a rule-based global order.
iii.India pitched for promoting rules-based order in the region to upload adherence to UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).
iv.At the East Asia Summit in Bangkok in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the setting up of Indo-Pacific Ocean’s Initiative (IPOI) to conserve and use the maritime domain sustainably.
East Asia Summit:
i.It was established in 2005, EAS is a premier leader-led forum for discussion on important strategic issues in Indo-Pacific region.
ii.India is a founding member of EAS. The 18 members of the EAS together represent 54% of the world population and account for 58% of the global GDP.
Member States:
The members are India, Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.
Recent Related News:
i.On September 9 2020, V. Muraleedharan, Minister of State(MoS) for External Affairs attended the 10th East Asia Summit(EAS) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. The Meeting was held over a virtual platform.
About Ministry of External Affairs:
Union Minister– Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar(Elected to Rajya Sabha from Gujarat)
Minister of State– V. Muraleedharan
About Vietnam:
Capital – Hanoi
Currency – Vietnamese Dong
Prime Minister – Nguyen Xuan PhucÂ
