Union Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (GoI) was on a 3-day official visit to Vietiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) from 25th to 27th July 2024.
- He was invited by Saleumxay Kommasith, Deputy Prime Minister (PM) and Foreign Minister of Laos PDR, to participate in the Foreign Ministers’ Meetings under the Association of South-East Asian (ASEAN) framework in the format of ASEAN-India, East Asia Summit (EAS) and 31st ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
57th ASEAN-Foreign Ministers Meeting in Laos PDR
On 25th July 2024, Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister (EAM) attended the 57th ASEAN-Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM) chaired by Lao PDR under theme “ASEAN: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience” in Vientiane, Lao PDR.
Participants:
i.The meeting was attended by foreign ministers of the 10 member of ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam) and its partners which includes China, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and India.
ii.Foreign Ministers from the United Kingdom (UK), Switzerland, Norway, and Canada also participated in the meeting.
Highlights of EAM Jaishankar’s visit to Lao:
i.EAM’s visit to Lao underscores India’s deep engagement with and the importance India attaches to the ASEAN-centred regional architecture, India’s strong commitment to ASEAN unity, ASEAN centrality, the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and taking forward the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).
ii.His visit holds a significance since 2024 marks a decade of India’s Act East Policy which was announced by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister (PM) of India, at the 9th East Asia Summit in 2014.
- Act East Policy is a diplomatic initiative, which aims to promote economic, strategic and cultural relations with the vast Asia-Pacific region at different levels.
iii.EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar underscored that the ASEAN is the cornerstone of India’s Act East Policy and its Indo-Pacific vision during the opening session of the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers Meeting.
iv.On the sidelines of ASEAN summit, EAM Jaishankar held bilateral meetings with leaders from Russia, the European Union (EU), Türkiye, South Korea, Singapore, Brunei, and New Zealand.
v.He emphasized to expand political, economic and security cooperation with the ASEAN bloc, which is of the utmost priority for India.
ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference with India
On 26th July 2024, ASEAN-Post Ministerial Conference with India meeting was convened in Vientiane, Laa.
- ASEAN Foreign Ministers or their representatives, EAM S. Jaishankar and Dato’ Astanah Abdul Aziz, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political-Security Community attended the meeting.
- Timor-Leste attended as an observer country.
Key Points:
i.During the meeting, ASEAN-India reaffirmed their commitment to further enhance the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) in the upcoming years.
ii.This involves the implementations of the ASEAN-India Plan of Action and its Annex, as well as developing a successor document to guide the CSP over the next 5 years.
Logo Celebrating 40 years of India-Brunei Diplomatic Relation
On 26th July 2024, EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar and Dato Haji, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei jointly launched a logo celebrating 40 years of diplomatic relation between India and Brunei.
- The logo was launched during the bilateral meeting between EAM Jaishankar and Dato Haji on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Vientiane, Laos PDR.
Commemorative postage stamp on Ram Lalla of Ayodhya
On 27th July 2024, EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar held a bilateral meeting with Saleumxay Kommasith , foreign minister of Lao PDR and jointly released a special commemorative postage stamp set featuring Lord Ram Lalla of Ayodhya(Uttar Pradesh).
- This marks as the 1st stamp depicting Ram Lalla of Ayodhya anywhere in the world.
The bilateral meeting witnessed the exchange of Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) on 10 Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) for Laos under Mekong Ganga Cooperation and cooperation in sharing successful Digital Solutions.
About the Stamp:
i.The stamp set consists of two stamps, one depicts Lord Buddha of the city of Luang Prabang , the ancient capital of Laos, and other featuring Lord Ram of Ayodhya, the sacred capital city of Lord Ram.
ii.The theme of the stamp set is “Celebrating shared cultural heritage of Lao PDR and India”.
iii.The stamp also depicts the shared cultural treasures of Ramayana and Buddhism between two countries.
- Lao version of Ramayana is called Ramakien or the Story of Phra Lak Phra Ram, is revered in Laos like in India and is performed in auspicious occasions
Launch of Common Yoga Protocol:
On 27th July 2024, EAM S. Jaishankar launched the common yoga protocol in the Lao language developed by the Art of Living Chapter in Vietiane, Lao PDR.
- During the launch event, he also interacted with scholars from Laos who are traveling to India under Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) programmes.
India Operationalises its New Resident Mission in Latvia
India has operationalised the new resident Mission in Riga, Latvia with effect from 25th July, 2024. This will help India to expand its diplomatic footprint, strengthen political relations, enable the growth of bilateral trade, encourage investments and economic engagements, facilitate stronger people-to-people contracts and bolster the sustained political outreach in multilateral fora.
About Ministry of External Affairs (MEA):
Union Minister- Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (Rajya Sabha member- Gujarat)
Minister of State (MoS)- Pabitra Margherita (Rajya Sabha member- Assam)
About Lao PDR:
Prime Minister (PM) – Sonexay Siphandone
Capital- Vietiane
Currency- Lao kip
