PM Modi to Have Bilateral Meetings with PM of Lao PDR, Other Leaders in Vientiane: MEA

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to hold a bilateral meeting with the prime minister of Lao PDR and other leaders on the margins of two key summits he is slated to attend in Vientiane on October 10-11, the external affairs ministry said on Wednesday.

Modi will attend the 21st ASEAN-India Summit and the 19th East Asia Summit in Lao PDR, the current Chair of the 10-nation grouping.

"We attach great significance to all ASEAN-related mechanisms. This will be PM's tenth attendance at an ASEAN-India Summit," Secretary (East) in the MEA, Jaideep Mazumdar said at a briefing here.

In 2023, Modi had made efforts to be there for the ASEAN-India Summit in Jakarta before the G20 Summit in New Delhi, he added.

The Summit in Vientiane will review the progress in India-ASEAN ties and "chart the future direction of our relationship", Mazumdar said.

At the invitation of Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Modi will visit Vientiane on October 10-11, he said.

He will have a bilateral meeting with Siphandone, the Secretary (East) said.

India has a "close, friendly, historical and civilisational relationship" with Lao PDR, which includes a whole host of different areas, such as restoration of cultural sites, capacity building, and power projects, he added.

When asked if Modi will also have bilateral meetings with leaders of other countries, Mazumdar said, "As is normal and usual, on the margins of international conferences and meetings, the prime minister will have bilateral meetings with several leaders. These are all in the works, and you will get to hear of them as they happen." Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded in 1967.

The member States are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, India, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Brunei Darussalam.