India will host the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting on June 16-17 to mark the 30th anniversary of India’s diplomatic relations with the G10.

Foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said Myanmar’s participation in the ASEAN-India foreign ministers meeting would be based on grouping rules, which was seen as a sign that the country’s foreign minister was unlikely to be in New Delhi.

Since last year’s military coup, ASEAN’s stance on engaging with Myanmar in multilateral forums has been apolitical.

“India will host the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (SAIFMM) on June 16-17 to mark the 30th anniversary of our dialogue relationship and the 10th anniversary of our strategic partnership with ASEAN,” Bagchi said during a media briefing.

He said Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan would co-chair the meeting. Singapore’s foreign minister is India’s national coordinator in ASEAN.

Bach said that the foreign ministers of other ASEAN member states and the ASEAN secretary-general would participate in SAIFMM. 2022 has been designated as the Year of ASEAN-India Friendship.

Asked about Myanmar’s involvement, Bagchi said it would be in line with ASEAN rules. There are indications that India is unlikely to invite Myanmar’s foreign minister but an official.

Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup on February 1 last year, imposing a state of emergency after detaining Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD). After the coup, there were massive protests in the country. The international community has been harshly critical of the coup.

The ASEAN-India dialogue relationship began with establishing a sectoral partnership in 1992 and gradually developed into a comprehensive dialogue partnership, a summit-level partnership in 2002, and a strategic partnership in 2012 in December 1995. The partnership has a solid foundation. ASEAN is at the heart of India’s eastward policy and its vision for the wider Indo-Pacific region,” Bagchi said.

“This multifaceted partnership includes several sectoral dialogue mechanisms and working groups that meet regularly at various levels, including annual summits, ministerial and senior officials’ meetings,” he said. Ongoing India-ASEAN The collaboration is guided by the 2021-2025 Action Plan adopted in 2020.

While the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (FMM), chaired by the ASEAN Chair, is an annual event, SAIFMM will be the first ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to be hosted by India in New Delhi. SAIFMM will take place ahead of the 24th ASEAN-India Senior Officials Meeting on June 15.

SAIFMM will host the 12th Delhi Dialogue, the premier Track 1.5 Dialogue on the ASEAN-India calendar, from June 16-17.