PM Modi likely to skip ASEAN Summit in Malaysia; EAM Jaishankar may represent

October 23, 2025

 New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to skip the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Malaysia, starting from Sunday due to scheduling issues, sources said, adding that External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar will represent India at the summit.

The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur from October 26 to 28. There is no official confirmation yet on India’s level of participation at the deliberations related to the summit.

Sources said that India is reported to have conveyed to Malaysia that EAM Jaishankar will represent India at the ASEAN meetings. There is a possibility of PM Modi’s participation through virtual mode at the ASEAN-India summit.

Since 2014, Prime Minister Modi has skipped only one East Asia Summit (EAS) — the 17th edition held in November 2022 in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh. With barely a few days left for the 20th EAS in Kuala Lumpur (October 26), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was non-committal on Tuesday on whether the PM would attend the AEAN summit as well as the EAS.

Malaysian government representatives and its media, however, have said that PM Modi would be one of the world leaders attending the EAS, along with US President Donald Trump, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and several others.

What is ASEAN ?

The 10-member countries of ASEAN are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. The two-way relations between India and ASEAN have been on a significant upswing in the last few years with focus being on boosting cooperation in the areas of trade and investment as well as security and defence.