LABUAN BAJO – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will attend the 42nd Asean Summit in West Manggarai, Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara province, starting today, which will be divided into a plenary session and a retreat session.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir said the prime minister will also chair the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area Summit and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle Summit.
“These two summits will further strengthen cooperation aimed at increasing cross-border activities in an effort to further increase the value of trade and investment in the regions,” he said in a statement.
The prime minister is also expected to attend a meeting with representatives of Asean Youth, the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Asean Business Advisory Council and the High-Level Task Force on Asean Community Post 2025 Vision.
According to Zambry, the summit is a good platform for all Asean member countries to discuss the direction of Asean and the development efforts of the Asean community, which includes the Asean Community Post 2025 Vision as well as action plans for the three pillars of the Asean community – namely political-security, economic and socio-cultural.
Zambry, who arrived here yesterday, will also attend three preparatory meetings today, namely the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the 26th Asean Political-Security Community Council Meeting, and the 33rd Asean Coordinating Council Meeting.
The region’s foreign ministers will discuss various issues in addition to considering and confirming various draft reports and documents that will be submitted for the decision of the Asean leaders at the summit.
This includes decisions on the roadmap for Timor-Leste’s participation in Asean, discussions on the progress of the implementation of the Five-Point Agreement on the situation in Myanmar, and current issues that touch on common interests and may have an impact on Asean, he said. – Bernama, May 9, 2023
