MEA appoints Jayant Khobragade as India's next Ambassador to ASEAN Secretariat

New Delhi, January 22: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) appointed Jayant N Khobragade, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1995 batch as India's next Ambassador to the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. Khobragade is currently serving as joint secretary at the headquarters of the ministry in Delhi. According to the ministry, "He is expected to take up his assignment shortly."

 

Last year, India had proposed his name as the charge d''affaires of the Indian mission in Islamabad but Pakistan did not give consent to it. His appointment as Ambassador to ASEAN Secretariat is seen as an important one. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region, and India and several other countries including the US, China, Japan, and Australia are its dialogue partners.

 

The summit is going to be held amid China''s aggressive behavior in the disputed South China Sea as well as in eastern Ladakh. Several ASEAN countries have territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea. The 10 member countries of ASEAN are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. 

 

The ties between India and ASEAN have been on an upswing in the last few years with the focus being on ramping up cooperation in the areas of trade and investment as well as security and defence. The ASEAN and India together comprise a combined population of 1.85 billion people, which is one-fourth of the global population and their combined GDP has been estimated at over USD 3.8 trillion.