ພັກປະຊາຊົນ ປະຕິວັດລາວ ທີ່ມີກຽດສະຫງ່າ ໝັ້ນຍືນ! ຊົມເຊີຍວັນສ້າງຕັ້ງພັກປະຊາຊົນປະຕິວັດລາວ ຄົບຮອບ 65 ປີ ຢ່າງສຸດໃຈ! ຂໍ່ານັບຮັບຕ້ອນວັນຄ້າຍວັນເກີດປະທານ ໄກສອນ ພົມວິຫານ ຄົບຮອບ 100 ປີ; ວັນສະຖາປະນາ ສປປ ລາວ ຄົບຮອບ 45 ປີ; ກອງປະຊຸມໃຫຍ່ ຄັ້ງທີ XI ຂອງພັກປະຊາຊົນ ປະຕິວັດລາວ; ກອງປະຊຸມໃຫຍ່ອົງຄະນະພັກ ຄັ້ງທີ IV ຂອງກະຊວງການຕ່າງປະເທດ ແລະ ວັນການທູດລາວ ຄົບຮອບ 77 ປີ.

slk pc

-        Good afternoon,

-        Members of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen,

  • As you all know, the Lao PDR is honored to assume the rotating Chairmanship of ASEAN this year. It is our second time to be chair of ASEAN. We chose the theme “Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community” for our Chairmanship this year because 2016 is the first year of the ASEAN Community, and the first year of the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. Our theme is very much in line with the ASEAN’s continued efforts in further strengthening the ASEAN Community.
  • As for me, it has been my great pleasure to host and chair the 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) and related Meetings for 4 days since 23rd July until today.
  • This time we have all together 22 Ministerial Meetings:

-       We had 3 meetings among ASEAN Foreign Ministers in different tasks.

-       We had 14 meetings with our external partners under the ASEAN-led mechanisms namely, ASEAN plus one, ASEAN Plus Three (APT), East Asia Summit (EAS) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

-       We also had 5 sub-Regional Ministerial Meetings.

  • Apart from those meetings, we also had many bilateral meetings.
  • At all the meetings, we have comprehensive, candid and fruitful discussions.
  • During the 49th AMM, we had fruitful deliberation on important political, security and development cooperation issues within ASEAN and between ASEAN and its dialogues partners and other external parties.

-       We reaffirmed the commitment to advancing the ASEAN community efforts through the effective implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the three community Blueprints 2025 with an aim to further strengthen the ASEAN Community thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

-       This year is the 40th Anniversary the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC). So, we adopted the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Statement on the Occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the TAC to reaffirm the significance of the TAC as the key code of conduct governing inter-state relations in the region and promoting cooperation between ASEAN and the outside the region in furtherance of regional peace, stability and development. We welcome the recognition of the TAC by other countries and agreed to grant the accession to the TAC to 4 countries: Chile, Egypt, Iran, and Morocco.

-       We also issued the Joint Statement of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ on Maintenance of Peace, Stability in the region.

-       We will continue to further deepening cooperation with Dialogue Partners as well as strengthening engagement with other external parties through the ASEAN-led mechanisms namely ASEAN Plus One, ASEAN Plus Three, ADMM-Plus, ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and East Asia Summit (EAS) for mutual benefit, while enhancing ASEAN’s centrality in those mechanism as well as in the evolving regional architecture. In this regard, we granted a Development Partner status to Germany, and the status of Sectoral Partner to Switzerland.

-       The ASEAN Foreign Ministers adopted the Joint Communiqué of the 49th AMM, which was released on 25 July 2016.

  • We, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers had met with our counterparts from 10 Dialogue Partners in separate Post Ministerial Coferences namely, Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, the RepublicWe reviewed the progress made in the cooperation between ASEAN and individual dialogue partners over the past years and charted out future directions to enhance closer cooperation in all areas of cooperation such as trade, investment, connectivity, tourism and people-to-people among others.
  • We met with our Plus Three partners under the ASEAN Plus Three framework. We reiterated our commitment to enhancing ASEAN Plus Three as the main vehicle toward building the East Asia economic community in the long run. We discussed the activities to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of ASEAN Plus Three cooperation in 2017. As Chair of ASEAN and also Chair of the ASEAN Plus Three, Laos has proposed a Draft Statement on Promoting Sustainable Development Cooperation to be adopted by the leaders at the 19th ASEAN Plus Three Summit in September 2016 in Vientiane, Laos. The initiative received wide support from ASEAN Plus Three countries.  
  • At the 6thEast Asia Summit Foreign Ministers Meeting, we reaffirmed the importance of strengthening EAS as a Leaders-led forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic issues of common interest and concern with a view to promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in East Asia. We discussed ways to effectively implement the 6 priority areas of the EAS. In this regard, the Meeting expressed broad support for the Draft Vientiane Declaration on Promoting Infrastructure Development Cooperation in East Asia proposed by Laos for the adoption by the EAS Leaders at the 11th East Asia Summit in September 2016 in Vientiane, Laos. This declaration aimed at mobilizing regional efforts to support infrastructure development projects toward enhancing regional connectivity, thus contributing to the promotion of sustainable development, economic growth and regional integration as well as peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
  • Duringthe 23rd ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), wereaffirmed the importance of the ARF as an inclusive forum for constructive dialogue and cooperation on political and security issues of common interest and concern and also its vital role in contributing to addressing the increasing emerging non-traditional security challenges.

-       The ARF Ministers adopted the 23 Activities for the next Inter-Sessional Year 2016-2017 and agreed to issue 3 Statements namely:

  1. )ARF Statement
  2. )ARF Ministerial Statement on Enhancing Cooperation among Maritime Law Enforcement Agencies; and
  3. )ARF Ministerial Statement on Recent Tragic Terrorist Attacks.

-       The Lao PDR, as ARF Chair, introduced the ARF Annual Security Outlook 2016, which is the 17th Volume, comprising contributions from ARF participants. This ARF ASO 2016 will serve as a useful document in promoting understanding, confidence and transparency among ARF participants.

Members of the Media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

  • During the meetings, we also had a frank, candid and constructive exchange of views on regional and international issues of common interest and concern.
  • All in all, I would like to inform the media that the 49th AMM and related Meetings concluded with great success.
  • Those are the gist of the outcomes of the 49th AMM and related Meetings.
  • You can find more details in the 49th AMM Joint Communiqué, and in Chairman’s Statements of related Meetings which will be available soon.
  • I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my sincere thanks to all Foreign Ministers for their excellent cooperation, active contribution and constructive discussions that led to the success of the 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting and related Meetings, laying firm foundation for the successful convening of the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summit and related Summits which will be held from 6-8 September this year here in Vientiane. All members of the media are invited to cover those summits.
  • I will stop here and welcome questions and comments from the media.

Thank you for your attention.