Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to attend the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia later this week, with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar expected to lead the Indian delegation at the regional meeting, sources said on Wednesday, October 22. The summit, hosted in Kuala Lumpur from October 26 to 28, will bring together leaders from across the Asia-Pacific for discussions on economic and strategic cooperation.
While there has been no official confirmation yet from the Ministry of External Affairs, diplomatic sources indicated that India has informed the Malaysian government of Jaishankar’s participation at the ASEAN deliberations. Officials, however, have not ruled out the possibility of the Prime Minister addressing the ASEAN-India Summit virtually.
If confirmed, this will be only the second time since 2014 that Modi skips an East Asia Summit. The last time he missed the meeting was in November 2022, when the 17th edition was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The East Asia Summit, held alongside the ASEAN Summit, includes major global leaders such as those from the United States, China, Japan, Australia and Russia.
Malaysian authorities and sections of the local media had earlier listed Modi among the expected attendees, along with US President Donald Trump and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. However, the Indian side has not confirmed his travel plans.
Sources said that an initial plan for Modi to visit both Malaysia and Cambodia was under consideration but has since been revised. With the Prime Minister’s travel to Kuala Lumpur now unlikely, the planned stop in Cambodia has also been postponed.
India’s participation in the ASEAN-related summits comes at a time of growing engagement between New Delhi and Southeast Asian nations. In recent years, the relationship has expanded across areas including trade, investment, connectivity, security and defence cooperation.
The ASEAN-India partnership began as a sectoral dialogue in 1992, upgraded to a full dialogue partnership in 1995, and reached summit level in 2002. It was elevated further to a strategic partnership in 2012.
Prime Minister Modi first attended the East Asia Summit in 2014, held in Myanmar, and has since represented India at most editions — in Malaysia (2015), Laos (2016), the Philippines (2017), Singapore (2018), and Thailand (2019). The subsequent summits in 2020 and 2021 were conducted virtually due to the pandemic, with Vietnam and Brunei serving as hosts. He attended the in-person meetings in Indonesia in 2023 and Laos in 2024.
The upcoming Kuala Lumpur summit will mark the 20th East Asia Summit. Leaders are expected to discuss regional security, economic resilience, energy cooperation and supply chain stability amid rising geopolitical tensions. President Trump, who is scheduled to visit Malaysia from October 26 for a two-day trip, will also attend the summit along with other ASEAN dialogue partners.
