- ASEAN and India reaffirm digital partnership during sixth ADGMIN meeting, strengthening telecommunications and digital cooperation.
- Leaders endorse Digital Work Plan 2026, launch ASEAN-India Digital Future Fund, expanding capacity building initiatives.
- Meeting promotes inclusive, secure digital growth through infrastructure development, AI cooperation, and shared innovation goals.
The 6th ASEAN-India Digital Ministers’ Meeting (ADGMIN) has been conducted online recently, bringing together digital and telecommunications chiefs in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India to reaffirm and further their collaborative digital effort.
Hosted jointly by Amit Agrawal, India’s Secretary in the Department of Telecommunications, and Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Science and Technology of Vietnam, the meeting emphasized a collective commitment in improving regional digital collaborations in a number of ways.
During the discussion sessions, the progress achieved under the ASEAN-India Digital Work Plan 2025 and the signing of the Digital Work Plan for 2026, which includes initiatives such as ICT capacity-building programs, the India-ASEAN Regulators' Conference, and the delivery of telecommunication and digital solutions, were welcomed as best practices in the region.
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The most notable event that occurred at the meeting was the establishment of the ASEAN-India Fund for the Digital Future, which can aid in joint development programs related to the improvement of digital infrastructure and innovation in the region.
It reiterated its commitment to moving forward with ASEAN with its progress made regarding its digital transformation 4G reach for almost the whole country, fast roll-out of 5G networks, increased rural fixed-broadband connectivity, and robust digital public infrastructure such as Aadhaar, UPI, and DigiLocker.
It further extended cooperation regarding best practices for telecommunications consumer protection as well as cooperation related to artificial intelligence capacity building.
The meeting, with the theme “Adaptive ASEAN: From Connectivity to Connected Intelligence,” restated the intention of the ASEAN nations and India to establish a safe and innovative digital world that can bridge the digital divide and foster economic development in the Indo-Pacific region through digital resilience.