While in Laos for ASEAN, Jaishankar met Wang Yi and Lavrov.

NEW DELHI: For India, ASEAN is the cornerstone of its Act East Policy and India attaches importance to it said External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar on Friday in Lao PDR.

“The priority that India attaches to ASEAN and EAS platforms is evident from Prime Minister Modi visiting Jakarta last year on the very eve of our own G20 Summit. He had announced a 12-point plan that has been largely acted upon. For India, ASEAN is the cornerstone of its Act East Policy and the Indo-Pacific vision that was thereafter built on it,’’ said Dr Jaishankar in his opening remarks of ASEAN India Foreign Ministers meet.

Meanwhile, Dr Jaishankar met many of his counterparts on the sidelines of the meet which included Chinese and Russian Foreign Ministers.“We continued our ongoing discussions about our bilateral relationship and agreed on the need to give strong guidance to complete the disengagement process. There is a must to ensure full respect for the LAC and past agreements,’’ said Dr Jaishankar after meeting Wang Yi in Vientiane on Thursday.