BANGKOK, Nov 14 — Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will attend the 21st ASEAN Summit and related meetings Sunday through Tuesday next week in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ ASEAN Department director general Attayut Srisamut said that in addition to the November 18-20 21st ASEAN Summit, regional leaders will also join meetings with key Dialogue Partners China, Japan, South Korea, India, and the United States as well as the ASEAN Plus Three Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS).
Ms Yingluck will also participate in the first ASEAN Global Dialogue (AGD).
The upcoming Summits aim to review the progress and push forward various areas of cooperation in ASEAN, as well as between ASEAN and Dialogue Partners, and to provide an opportunity for leaders to exchange views on important regional and international issues.
The issues to be discussed at the summit include ASEAN community building– implementing blueprints for the three pillars and Master Plan on ASEAN connectivity, its Human Rights Declaration to be adopted by ASEAN leaders, appointing a new ASEAN secretary-general to succeed Dr Surin Pitsuwan whose term ends next month.
The Summits with Dialogue Partners will review likely future cooperation, and exchange views on regional and international issues. The ASEAN Global Dialogue will be conducted under the theme “Role of multilateral institutions, ASEAN and East Asia in addressing economic and financial disorder.”
During the summit, ASEAN and its Free Trade Agreement partners China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand will join the launch of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations during the upcoming summits.
The summits expect 11 outcome documents, including the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, ASEAN-China Joint Statement on the 10th Anniversary of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea: Enhancing Peace, Friendship and Cooperation, Leaders’ Statement on ASEAN Plus Three Partnership on Connectivity, Phnom Penh Declaration on East Asia Summit Development Initiative, and the Joint Declaration on Launching the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Negotiation.
