Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong will be attending the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and Related Summits in Cambodia from 10 Nov to 13 Nov.
Others in attendance will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During the summits, the ASEAN leaders will be discussing regional and international developments, including the “worsening” situation in Myanmar.
In a press release dated 10 Nov, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced PM Lee’s attendance at the meetings.
The summits will run from 10 Nov to 13 Nov, under Cambodia’s ASEAN Chairmanship theme of “ASEAN A.C.T.: Addressing Challenges Together”.
At the summits, ASEAN leaders will be discussing how its members can promote peace, prosperity, and stability as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to PMO, ASEAN will be commemorating its 55th anniversary in 2022.
In light of this, the leaders will take stock of ASEAN’s achievements and enhance efforts to “strengthen regional cooperation and reinforce ASEAN Centrality” while responding effectively to regional and global challenges.
Those in attendance will also discuss regional and international developments, including the “worsening” situation in Myanmar.
Source: Vivian Balakrishnan on Facebook
The Straits Times (ST) reports that there has been “limited progress” on ASEAN’s “five-point consensus” peace plan aimed at putting an end to the messy affairs following the military coup in Feb 2021.
In addition, the leaders will meet with various external partners during the 25th ASEAN Plus Three Summit, the 17th East Asia Summit, and Summits with Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the US.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), US President Joe Biden and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang are expected to attend the summits.
In PM Lee’s absence, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Mr Lawrence Wong will be the acting PM.
These will be the first in-person ASEAN summits since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, CNA reports.
Both the 2020 and 2021 summits were held online and were chaired by Vietnam and Brunei respectively.
As has been the norm since the military coup in Myanmar, the country’s leader Min Aung Hlaing is not expected to attend the ASEAN summits.
This will be a continuation of the bloc’s exclusion of Myanmar’s political leadership at high-level meetings, instead choosing to send a “non-political representative”.
At the time of writing, the junta has refused to send representatives to the meetings.
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Featured image adapted from Prime Minister’s Office Singapore.
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