India’s External Affairs Minister , Dr. S. Jaishankar, is currently participating in the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. During this visit, he met with foreign ministers from several countries and discussed a wide range of bilateral, regional, and global issues.
Jaishankar met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday. After the meeting, he shared photos on the social media platform X
, writing, “It was a pleasure to meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Kuala Lumpur this morning. I appreciate the productive discussions we had on our bilateral relationship as well as regional and global issues.”
The energy sector was a key focus of the meeting. According to the US side, India is actively working to diversify its oil import sources . Secretary Rubio stated that India will no longer rely solely on one country, but will instead balance its interests by purchasing oil from multiple countries. India had developed this strategy long before the US-India tariff dispute even began.
On the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, Jaishankar also met with the foreign ministers of Singapore and Thailand . In his conversation with Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, the two leaders discussed the global and regional situation, as well as opportunities for deepening India-Singapore cooperation . Jaishankar wrote on X
, “It was a pleasure to meet the Foreign Minister of Singapore. We had a useful dialogue on the global landscape and discussed new opportunities for cooperation.”
Jaishankar then held his first official meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeo . The two countries agreed to advance their strategic partnership . Jaishankar posted,
“First meeting with the Thai Foreign Minister in Kuala Lumpur. Looking forward to working together to advance our strategic partnership.”
The External Affairs Minister also met with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘s best wishes for the success of the ASEAN Summit. Jaishankar said the two leaders also discussed bilateral cooperation and strengthening people-to-people ties .
Malaysia is hosting the ASEAN Summit from October 26 to 28 this year with the theme ” Inclusion and Sustainability .” During the summit, Jaishankar also met his South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun and discussed expanding cooperation in the automotive, electronics, semiconductor, defense, and shipbuilding sectors.