Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will leave for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Thursday (October 30, 2025) to attend the 12th ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus). Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will participate in this meeting on November 1.
Giving information through social media platform X, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said, ‘Today on October 30, I will leave from New Delhi for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I will participate in this year’s ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus), which is being held in Malaysia on 1 November.
The Defense Minister wrote in the post, ‘I will address the forum organized on the topic ‘Reflecting on 15 years of ADMM-Plus and preparing the way forward’. He also informed that the second informal meeting of ASEAN-India Defense Ministers will be held on October 31 under the chairmanship of Malaysia during ADMM-Plus, in which Defense Ministers of all ASEAN member countries will participate. The objective of this meeting is to further strengthen defense and security cooperation between ASEAN member countries and India and to take forward the ‘Act East Policy’.
During the two-day visit, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from ADMM-plus countries and the senior leadership of Malaysia. ‘I look forward to discussing further cooperation in a variety of areas with the participating ADMM-Plus countries, as well as with Malaysia’s senior leadership,’ the Defense Minister wrote.
ADMM is the highest defense consultative and cooperative organization of ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations). ADMM-Plus is a platform to strengthen security and defense cooperation for ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam) and its eight dialogue partners (India, US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand).
India became a dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992 and its first ADMM-Plus was held in Hanoi, Vietnam on October 12, 2010. Since 2017, ADMM-Plus is organized annually to promote defense cooperation between ASEAN and Plus countries. Under the ADMM-Plus, India co-chairs the Expert Working Group on Counterterrorism with Malaysia for the 2024-2027 cycle. The second edition of the ASEAN-India maritime exercise is also scheduled for 2026.