ASEAN senior officials meet in Philippines to prepare for upcoming AMM

Senior officials meet in Manila, the Philippines to discuss preparations for the upcoming ASEAN Ministerial Meeting slated for August in the Philippines.

Deputy FM Nguyen Quoc Dung - Head of SOM ASEAN Viet Nam led a Vietnamese delegation to the SOM meeting.

The officials agreed on specific measures to effectively implement action lines in the ASEAN Community Blueprints 2025, including pooling the full and effective involvement of specialized agencies.

They discussed a plan to mark the ASEAN’s 50th Anniversary (1967-2007) and considered countries’ request to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) and agenda for the meeting of the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty Executive Committee’s Working Group.

Regarding external relations, the member countries affirmed their resolve to strengthen ties with partners on the basis of respecting fundamental principles of ASEAN and uphold the bloc’s central role.

They also reviewed cooperation activities with dialogue partners, including China, the US, Russia, India, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Canada and the EU based on the guidelines of the 29thASEAN Summit and related meetings in September 2016.

The member countries agreed on basic orientations for the implementation of the Working Plan on improving ASEAN’s central role.

For the East Sea issue, the officials sought ways to initiate the outcomes of the ASEAN-China consultation on the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

ASEAN senior officials will meet with counterparts within the frameworks of ASEAN+3, East Asia Summit, the Regional Forum and the Lower Mekong initiative from May 23-24./.