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PolicyDefence

First ASEAN-India defence think tank forum ends in Delhi

Policymakers, military officers and researchers from India and all 11 ASEAN countries met at MP-IDSA for two days to talk maritime security, defence technology and joint production.

From the editorial desk · New DelhiPublished
An event at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (file photo)
An event at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (file photo)Secretary of Defense / Wikimedia

Key points

  1. The forum brought together representatives of all 11 ASEAN member states and India.
  2. Rajnath Singh proposed it at the ASEAN-India defence ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur on 31 October 2025.
  3. Its last sessions covered defence industry co-production and maintenance support.

The first ASEAN-India Defence Think Tank Forum was due to wrap up in New Delhi on Thursday, after two days of talks between Indian and Southeast Asian policymakers, armed forces officers and researchers on security in the Indo-Pacific.

The forum was held at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) with the Ministry of Defence, and drew representatives from all 11 ASEAN member states and India. It grew out of a proposal by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the second ASEAN-India Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting in Kuala Lumpur on 31 October 2025, held alongside the 12th ADMM-Plus.

MP-IDSA described the forum as a platform linking research communities with the people who make and carry out defence policy, and called it “an important institutional step in strengthening intellectual and policy-level engagement” between India and ASEAN.

The five sessions ran from regional geopolitics and how India’s Act East policy and its MAHASAGAR maritime vision fit with ASEAN’s own Indo-Pacific outlook, to maritime cooperation against grey-zone pressure at sea and disaster relief in the maritime domain.

The final sessions turned to technology and industry. Delegates were to look at counter-drone systems, electronic warfare and start-up programmes modelled on India’s iDEX scheme, and at routes to co-production, joint ventures, maintenance and repair support and defence trade. The organisers also listed India’s potential as a defence exporter and maintenance partner for Southeast Asia as a theme.

The organisers have not yet said what recommendations, if any, the forum will put to defence ministries.

The documents