A series of regional meetings have been held in Nay Pyi Taw last week in preparation for the upcoming 24th ASEAN Summit set for May 8-11.
The ASEAN Officials Meeting, Joint Preparatory Meeting and the 1st Meeting of ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group on ASEAN Community’s Post-2015 Vision were among those.
Topping the agenda during the discussions were ASEAN Community Building as well as ASEAN Community’s Post-2015 Vision and ASEAN’s external relations.
The upcoming summit will be followed by a related Annual ASEAN Leadership Forum slated for May 11 to May 12, where heads of states and government, entrepreneurs and experts will focus on regional challenges, ASEAN cooperation in 2015 and progress of the region and the globe.
Soon after taking up ASEAN chairmanship in the beginning of 2014, Myanmar first hosted ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (Retreat) in Bagan in January under the theme “Moving Forward in Unity to A Peaceful and Prosperous Community.”
At the meeting, the foreign ministers vowed to speed up efforts in ASEAN Community building and integration and move forward to realize ASEAN Community in 2015.
ASEAN ministers also touched on developing ASEAN Vision for post 2015 as guided by ASEAN leaders’ statement at the 23rd ASEAN summit and exploring ways to strengthen ASEAN’s external relations.
In March, an ASEAN People’s Forum took place in Yangon under the theme “Advancing ASEAN Peoples’ Solidarity Toward Sustainable Peace, Development, Justice and Democratization.”
The event attracted nearly 3,000 civil society representatives from across the 10 ASEAN member countries as well as Timor-Leste to attend a range of programs, events and workshops on a variety of ASEAN issues.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
