The 6th ASEAN-India Digital Ministers Meeting was held virtually yesterday under the theme Adaptive ASEAN: From Connectivity to Connected Intelligence. The meeting reaffirmed the shared commitment of ASEAN Member States and India to strengthen regional digital cooperation with a focus on digital inclusion and integration.

 

In a statement, the Ministry of Communications said that the meeting was co-chaired by Telecom Secretary Amit Agrawal and Vietnam’s Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung. The Meeting welcomed the approval of the ASEAN-India Digital Work Plan 2026, which includes the themes of ICT training or capacity-building programmes, the India-ASEAN Regulators’ Conference and the deployment of telecom ICT solutions. The Meeting also welcomed the operationalisation of a special ASEAN-India Fund for the Digital Future.

 

It added that India highlighted its indigenous and cost-effective digital solutions, Digital Public Infrastructure such as Aadhaar, UPI and DigiLocker, and the Sanchar Saathi initiative for telecom user protection and fraud prevention. India also underlined cooperation in Artificial Intelligence through the IndiaAI Mission, with emphasis on safe and trusted AI. The meeting underlined the shared vision of India and ASEAN to build an open, secure and inclusive digital ecosystem for regional growth.