ASEAN Ministerial Meeting ClosesThe 33rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) closed in Bangkok Tuesday afternoon after issuing a joint communique and other documents on the fight against social problems, protection of cultural heritage, and establishment of financial resources.During the two-day meeting, foreign ministers from ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member countries, Papua New Guinea, an observer country, and the organization's secretary-general agreed to work towards a comprehensive development agenda for the region. Also they reviewed the progress made in the past year in the regional economic integration, noting that continuous efforts should be enhanced in the social and cultural fields so as to intensify and encompassing all sectors of the ASEAN society. Of ASEAN's external relations, participants planed to further deepen ASEAN's relations with its existing dialogue partners, and hoped that the regional grouping could forge ties with more partners so as to maintain its outward looking orientation, foster collaborations with a larger number of entities and strengthen ASEAN's role in the international fora. ASEAN, established in 1967, holds its AMM annually in each member country in turn to formulate policy guidelines. The current ministerial meeting will be followed by the ASEAN+3 meeting (China, Japan, South Korea) on July 26, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on July 27 where ASEAN foreign ministers will meet with their counterparts from the dialogue partners including Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the United States to discuss security issues and way to cope with challenges brought about by globalization in various areas. Then the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) will be held including a plenary session and separate sessions between the ASEAN members and each individual dialogue partner on July 28 to 29. |
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