Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will lead India's delegation at the 13th ADMM-Plus in Cebu, Philippines, on Wednesday and Thursday, joining defence ministers from Southeast Asia and the bloc's eight Dialogue Partners.

The ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) is the bloc's main forum for defence talks with outside partners. According to the Ministry of Defence, Singh will address a session titled Exchange of Views on Regional and International Security Issues. He is also scheduled to meet counterparts from participating countries on the sidelines to review defence ties.

ADMM-Plus in Cebu follows the 20th ADMM

The Philippines holds the ASEAN chair in 2026.

Its Department of National Defense is hosting the 20th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and the 13th ADMM-Plus in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. The ADMM, set up in 2006, is the highest defence consultative mechanism within ASEAN. The Plus format brings in eight Dialogue Partners: India, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

Philippine authorities have declared all of Lapu-Lapu City a no-fly zone for the meetings. At least 3,670 police, military, coast guard and medical personnel are on security duty.

India co-chairs counter-terrorism group with Malaysia

Below the ministers, ADMM-Plus work runs through Experts' Working Groups. India co-chairs the group on counter-terrorism with Malaysia for the 2024-27 cycle.

The Indian Navy was in the Philippines for another of these groups last month. INS Sahyadri and INS Kulish joined the Joint Cooperation Activity of the Experts' Working Group on Maritime Security at Subic Bay, co-hosted by Japan and the Philippines, which closed with a ceremony on September 25. Both ships then stayed in port for the second ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise, AIME-2026, which opened on September 28.

First ASEAN-India think tank forum held in New Delhi

Earlier this month, the first ASEAN-India Defence Think Tank Forum met at MP-IDSA in New Delhi. Singh told delegates that India wants an Indo-Pacific where all countries, large and small, make their own choices. He also offered ASEAN partners cooperation on patrol vessels, radars, air-defence systems, helicopters and drones.

Philippines is India's country coordinator in ASEAN

India became an ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 1992. The first ADMM-Plus met in Hanoi on October 12, 2010, and the ministers have met every year since 2017.

At the 11th ADMM-Plus in Vientiane in November 2024, Singh welcomed the Philippines as the country coordinator for India in ASEAN and the ADMM-Plus for the new cycle. Less than a year later, in August 2025, the two countries raised their ties to a Strategic Partnership. The Indian Navy's visits to Subic Bay this autumn built on that agreement.

Kuala Lumpur meeting marked 15 years of ADMM-Plus

The previous edition met in Kuala Lumpur on November 1, 2025. Singh addressed that meeting on 15 years of the grouping and the way forward, and joined the second ASEAN-India Defence Ministers' Informal Meeting on the sidelines.