The ASEAN Foreign Ministers are to meet from 19 – 23 July in the Vietnamese capital of Ha Noi for the 43rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM). The series of meetings will also see the convening of the Post Ministerial Conferences, where the ASEAN Ministers meet their counterparts from ASEAN Dialogue Partners, and the 17th ASEAN Regional Forum.

Discussions on ASEAN community building, the regional architecture and the implementation of the ASEAN Charter are all expected to feature on the agenda of the AMM on 19-20 July.

The five-year Work Plan of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) is also expected to be approved.

At the PMCs, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers will meet their counterparts from the Plus Three Countries (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea), in addition to Australia, Canada, the European Union, India, New Zealand, Russia and the United States. Among other topics, they will be discussing dialogue partnership commemorative Summits in the coming two years.

At the 17th ARF, ASEAN Member States and 17 other participating countries are expected to adopt the Ha Noi Plan of Action to Implement the ARF Vision Statement. The Plan of Action will drive the ARF’s deliberation and course of actions in the next decade. Six areas of cooperation are identified in the PoA as the basis for ARF future work, namely disaster relief, counter-terrorism – transnational crime, maritime security, non-proliferation and disarmament, peacekeeping operations and defense dialogue.

Looking forward to the series of meetings, the Secretary-General of ASEAN said that with the focus of the world on East Asia, the AMM and related meetings with ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners represents a testimony to the central role played by the region in the regional architecture. Dr Surin also said that the meetings demonstrated Viet Nam’s steering role as the Chair of ASEAN in the region’s ongoing efforts in integration and in making ASEAN more recognised internationally.


July 6th, 2012