Rajnath Singh to attend ADMM-Plus in Malaysia, hold talks to boost ASEAN-India defence ties

New Delhi, October 29. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to attend the 12th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) on November 1, 2025, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. During the meeting, Singh will address the forum on ‘Reflection on 15 Years of ADMM-Plus and Charting the Way Forward’.

Ahead of the main session, the second ASEAN-India Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting, chaired by Malaysia, will be held on October 31. Defence ministers from all Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries are expected to participate. The meeting aims to strengthen defence and security cooperation between India and ASEAN nations and advance New Delhi’s Act East Policy.

During his two-day visit, Singh is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from ADMM-Plus countries and senior Malaysian leadership to explore avenues for deeper strategic and defence collaboration.

ADMM is ASEAN’s highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism. The ADMM-Plus brings together the 10 ASEAN members – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, along with Timor-Leste – and eight Dialogue Partners: India, the US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

India became an ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 1992, and the first ADMM-Plus was held in Hanoi, Vietnam, on October 12, 2010. Since 2017, the meeting has been held annually to deepen defence cooperation among member and partner nations.

As part of the ADMM-Plus framework, India currently co-chairs the Experts Working Group on Counter-Terrorism with Malaysia for the 2024–2027 cycle. The second ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise is also slated to take place in 2026.