KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 (Antara/Bernama-AsiaNet) --
Malaysia will kick-start its chairmanship of ASEAN in 2015 by hosting the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah from January 27 to 28.
The Retreat is the first in the series of ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meetings and other Related Meetings under Malaysia's ASEAN Chairmanship next year.
During the Retreat, ASEAN Foreign Ministers are expected to discuss the priorities of ASEAN for 2015 and the ASEAN Community's Post-2015 Vision.
The Foreign Ministers are expected to deliberate on important political, security and developmental issues crucial to ASEAN and its Member States.
Among the major meetings that Malaysia will host under its stewardship are the 26th ASEAN Summit in April 2015 and the 27th ASEAN Summit in November 2015.
Malaysia's theme for its chairmanship of ASEAN is "Our People, Our Community, Our Vision.
ASEAN will also enter a very interesting phase in 2015 as the year marks the end of the period for implementation of the action plans contained in the three blueprints on political security, economy and socio-culture.
A significant milestone for ASEAN in 2015 is the realisation of the ASEAN Community as outlined in the ‘Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009-2015’ where all 10 members aim to achieve uniformity of rules and procedures and seamless physical, infrastructural and people-to-people connectivity.
As Chair, Malaysia’s key focus is to ensure that the priority measures and initiatives for the ASEAN Community are in place and the integration process continues progressively beyond 2015.
Besides leading ASEAN to achieve these goals in 2015, Malaysia also sees, as equally important, efforts to develop the ASEAN Community’s Post-2015 Vision as a guide for the community to further prosper and grow.
According to the Jakarta-based ASEAN Secretariat, good progress has been made with the overall implementation rate of approximately 88% across the three pillars of ASEAN Community.
Formed on Aug 8, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, the membership of ASEAN has expanded to include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Members of media planning to cover the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah can log on to http://asean2015.bernama.com to register online and get more information about the event.
More information on ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat can also be obtained from main ASEAN web address: www.asean.org and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) web address: https://asean2015.gov.my
SOURCE : ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat Media Secretariat
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