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Abhinav Mehrotra 
Today is the 17th ASEAN-India Summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will co-chair the digital summit between India and ASEAN, an organization of 10 Southeast Asian countries, on Thursday. Prime Minister Modi will co-chair this 17th ASEAN-India Summit meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The meeting may focus on recovering from the economic crisis caused by the Coronavirus epidemic and broadening strategic ties.
The Ministry of External Affairs said that the current status of ASEAN-India strategic partnership will be reviewed at this summit and the progress made in key areas such as connectivity, maritime cooperation, trade and commerce, education and capacity building will also be considered. ASEAN, an association of Southeast Asian nations, is considered the region’s most influential group, and India, China, Japan and Australia are its dialogue partners.
This summit is being held at a time when China’s aggressive behaviour is being seen in the South China Sea and East Ladakh. Many ASEAN countries have border disputes with China in the South China Sea. The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that the leaders involved in this summit will discuss measures to strengthen the relationship between ASEAN-India and will also look into the approval of ASEAN-India Action Plan (2021-2025-).
ASEAN includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippine, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. Prime Minister Modi attended the 16th ASEAN-India Summit in Bangkok in November last year.
