Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Singapore and Indonesia from May 29 to June 2.
This is the prime minister's first visit to Indonesia, and with this visit, the present NDA government will have covered all the ten ASEAN countries, in the last four years. PM Modi had been to Singapore twice as prime minister—once for an official visit and once for the funeral of late president Lee Kuan Yew in 2015.
Defence cooperation will figure majorly in the prime minister's outreach to both the nations. India already has good defence ties with both the countries, given that they are close maritime neighbours. The closest distance between Andaman islands and Sabang in Indonesia is 90 nautical miles.
PM Modi will also interact with the officers and crew of an Indian Navy ship that is visiting the Changi naval base in Singapore.
In Singapore, the prime minister will be delivering a talk at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an important security and foreign policy meet for track one diplomacy. This will be the first time an Indian prime minister will speak at the venue. PM Modi will articulate his philosophy of Sagarmala (naval cooperation) and India's regional security concerns.
There are chances of some bilaterals at Singapore on the sidelines of Shangri-La Dialogue since the event sees participation of leaders of several countries.
With China's navy extending its outreach, India is keen on upping maritime ties with its close neighbours. Preeti Saran, Secretary East, said the ASEAN nations have been appreciative of India's position about the primacy to ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific region.
Modi's tour will start from Jakarta where foreign ministry officials say there are agreements likely in defence, space and science and technology.
An important part of the PM's itinerary will be attending a kite festival in Jakarta, which is jointly being organised by the Kite Museum of Ahmedabad.
All the three important religions of Indonesia, Hinduism Buddhism and Islam came through India, and so the he cultural links between the two nations are strong. So are the economic ones, with India Inc providing 2.5 lakh jobs in Indonesia. The future cooperation could be in areas of space, security and infrastructure.