NEW DELHI: The India-ASEAN foreign ministers meet, which will be held on June 16 and 17, will skip inviting the foreign minister of Myanmar (Wunna Maung Lwin).
According to the consensus of the ASEAN members it has been decided that only FMs of democratically elected countries will be invited. However, it is possible to invite an official from the Myanmar government to attend the event.
According to sources, an invite has been sent to Chan Aye, the permanent secretary of the Junta’s foreign ministry for the event and also for a senior officials meeting that takes place on June 15.
The ASEAN members, it is learnt, feel that the Junta has made no effort of involving the political leadership of Myanmar or work towards cessation of violence.
This will be the first time that India will host 10 foreign ministers from South East Asia coinciding with 30 years of India-ASEAN partnership and 10 years of its strategic partnership with Asean.
The members of ASEAN include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The meeting is expected to provide a platform to discuss the Indo Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) that was announced in Tokyo during Quad, besides issues of connectivity, investments, supply chains and maritime security.
Meanwhile, India on Thursday virtually took part in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Senior Officials Meeting. The meeting was attended ny senior officials of the ARF member states and chaired by Cambodia as the chairperson of ASEAN.