27 countries confirm attendance at Asean meetings in Manila

Twenty-seven countries have confirmed their attendance in the ministerial and security meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that will be held in Manila this month, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported yesterday.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for ASEAN Affairs Luis Cruz said the 27 countries will be represented at the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM), the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMCs) and the 14th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) which will be held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) from July 29 to Aug. 2.

Cruz said the foreign ministers are expected to discuss the status of ASEAN’s community-building efforts and assess the progress of the implementation of the three pillars of ASEAN on security community, economic community and socio-cultural community.

Cruz said during the AMM, the foreign ministers will adopt measures that will implement the landmark decisions of the 12th ASEAN, the 2nd East Asia Summit and other related summits that were held under the chairmanship of President Arroyo in Cebu last January.

As the current ASEAN chairman, the Philippines will lead discussions on the measures to follow up the directives that the ASEAN leaders firmed up at the Cebu Summit.

The AMM is an annual meeting of the ASEAN foreign ministers held every July and hosted on a rotation basis by member countries in alphabetical order, following the rotation of the ASEAN chairmanship.

The 10 ASEAN members are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The PMCs are annual meetings between ASEAN foreign ministers and their counterparts from 10 dialogue partners – China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, Russia, Canada, the United States and the European Union.