6th ASEAN–India Digital Ministers’ Meeting:
The 6th ASEAN–India Digital Ministers’ Meeting (ADGMIN) was co‑chaired virtually by India and Vietnam, focusing on the theme “Adaptive ASEAN: From Connectivity to Connected Intelligence”.
- The ADGMIN is an annual forum of Telecom and Digital Ministers from the 11 ASEAN Member States and ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners, including Australia, China, India, and the US.
Highlights of the 6th ADGMIN Meeting:
- The meeting acknowledged the adoption of the ASEAN–India Joint Statement on Advancing Digital Transformation (2024), aimed at strengthening cooperation on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), Financial Technology, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), capacity building, and sustainable financing.
- Progress on the ASEAN-India 2025 Digital Work Plan was reviewed, and a new ASEAN-India Digital Work Plan for 2026 was welcomed.
- The meeting also announced the operationalization of the special ‘ASEAN-India Fund for Digital Future’ to support collaborative initiatives between India and ASEAN in the domain of digital transformation and related technologies like Cybersecurity.
- India highlighted its rapid digital transformation, including near-universal 4G coverage, the world’s fastest 5G rollout, BharatNet for rural broadband, and its emergence as a mobile manufacturing hub.
- It offered to share expertise in its DPI (Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker) and the Sanchar Saathi initiative.
- India outlined its IndiaAI Mission with a focus on Safe and Trusted AI and expressed readiness to collaborate with ASEAN on AI capacity building, standards development, and practical use cases.
