Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is attending the 17th East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, highlighted global concerns on food and energy security. He urged the EAS members’ full contribution to the International Year of Millets in 2023.

The Ministry of External affairs (MEA) in a tweet said that Dhankhar “highlighted the importance of the EAS mechanism in promoting free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific with freedom of navigation and overflight”.

News agency ANI reports that Dhankhar also met US President Joe Biden at the EAS.

The EAS comprises the ten-member ASEAN nations – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, and eight dialogue partners – India, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Russia.

The East Asia Summit (EAS) is the Indo-Pacific’s premier forum for strategic dialogue. It is the only leader-led forum at which all key Indo-Pacific partners meet to discuss political, security and economic challenges facing the region and has an important role to play in advancing closer regional cooperation.

Apart from the Leaders Summit, meetings of EAS Foreign Ministers and Economic Ministers are held every year. The summit also serves as a platform for discussion of political, regional security, and economic issues.

While Biden is attending the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not. Putin may also skip the G20 leaders’ summit to be held next week in Bali, despite an invitation from current host Indonesia.

A day earlier on November 12, Dhankhar had participated in the 19th ASEAN-India Summit in Phnom Penh, which commemorated the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India dialogue relations.

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