📌 Background & Key Features
- Strategic logic: Act East’s bilateral pillar deepens India’s ties with individual ASEAN/Indo-Pacific states beyond the multilateral ASEAN-India track — combining defence exports, connectivity and Indo-Pacific balancing against China.
- Key instruments across these countries: BrahMos missile exports, naval exercises (Malabar, IPE), defence attaché postings, and expanding trade/investment agreements.
📋 Quick Facts
| Umbrella policy | See Part 1 — Act East Policy (launched 2014) |
| 2025-26 anchor event | 22nd ASEAN-India Summit (Kuala Lumpur, Oct 2025); 2026 = Year of Maritime Cooperation |
📊 India’s key Act East partner countries and cooperation themes
📰 Current Affairs Linkage (2025-26)
- India-Philippines ties were elevated to a full Strategic Partnership during President Marcos Jr.’s state visit to India (August 2025), building on the 2022 BrahMos deal.
- Vietnam became the third Southeast Asian country (after the Philippines and Indonesia) to acquire the BrahMos missile system, per a deal confirmed at the Shangri-La Dialogue (May 2026), valued at ~$629 million.
- India’s defence exports hit a record ~$2.76 billion in FY 2024-25 (up 12%), with Southeast Asia a growing market amid regional wariness of Chinese assertiveness and Russian supply reliability concerns.
