New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Manila next week for the ASEAN meetings and the East Asia Summit (EAS), hosted this year by the Philippines, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
The MEA, however, would not confirm whether Modi will meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines, or whether the Quad leaders will meet.
"This is a programme that is quickly being developed and we don't have information as of now about it, except that the PM is attending the ASEAN meet in the Philippines," Secretary (East) Rudrendra Tandon said at a special briefing.
Last month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the four Quad countries had agreed to hold the summit in Manila. He said it would deliver "concrete actions" rather than be a social gathering. MEA officials said it would be incorrect to infer that Washington had lost interest in the Quad.
Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are all due in Manila. If the four leaders meet, it will be the Quad's first leaders-level meeting since the Wilmington summit in September 2024. India was to host the next summit as chair, but it did not take place.
A Modi-Trump meeting in Manila would be their first since the Republican Party's setbacks in the US midterm elections earlier this month. It would also come with the India-US trade deal still unsigned.
The two leaders last met at the G7 summit in France and spoke on the phone in September. They are also likely to meet when Modi travels to Florida for the G20 Summit in mid-December.
According to the Philippine government, at least 19 leaders of countries and international institutions will attend the Manila summit. They include Chinese Premier Li Qiang, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Tandon described engagement with ASEAN, now an 11-member bloc, as a key pillar of India's Act East policy. "We strongly believe that, as an Indian Ocean country that abuts this very important Southeast Asian maritime zone, a strong strategic relationship with the ASEAN member states, as a collective as well as individually, is good for both of us," he said.
India's trade with ASEAN is worth about $122 billion. India has sought a review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) because of its trade deficit with the bloc.
Tandon said the review was taking time because it involved negotiations among several countries. Bilateral trade facilitation measures were being pursued regardless, he said.
On the South China Sea, MEA reiterated that any ASEAN-China Code of Conduct must take into account international maritime law, particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Regional diplomats have indicated that the negotiations will miss the end-2026 target.
The officials added that India was committed to helping the Philippines develop its capabilities. In 2022, the Philippines became the first foreign customer for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, with a $375-million contract for three shore-based anti-ship batteries.
Speaking at a think-tank dialogue in the capital last week, Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Manila hoped to acquire more units. He said it had shared a wish list with Indian authorities to tweak the system to Philippine terrain and conditions.
On Myanmar, whose military leadership remains excluded from high-level ASEAN meetings, Tandon said isolating the country was "not the right approach". India shares a 1,643-km border with Myanmar and is building the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project there. Myanmar will be represented in Manila by a Foreign Ministry official.
