ASEAN Summits Conclude With Emphasis on Post-Pandemic Recovery

Date: 13 November 2022 - 22:08

News ID: ۱۰۸۹۳۸

PHNOM PENH (AFP/Xinhua) – The 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits and Related Summits in Cambodia concluded Sunday, achieving fruitful results for greater regional cooperation towards post-COVID-19 pandemic socio-economic recovery.
“Within these four days, we have had a comprehensive and productive discussion on the way forward to strengthen ASEAN centrality and our value in relation with our external partners, particularly at a time when the world is facing the fast evolving complex regional and international issue,” Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said at the closing ceremony of the four-day summits.
A total of 70 outcome documents and declarations covering the three pillars of ASEAN communities were adopted and noted at the summits, with various cooperation frameworks with dialogue partners endorsed, said Hun Sen.
For the ASEAN community building, the summits adopted the ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on the 55th Anniversary of ASEAN, the ASEAN Leaders’ Vision Statement on ASEAN A.C.T: Addressing Challenges Together, and the ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on ASEAN Connectivity Post-2025 Agenda, he said.
On Friday, the ASEAN leaders agreed in principle to admit Timor-Leste as the 11th ASEAN member, according to an ASEAN leaders’ statement.
“I would like to stress that ASEAN centrality is the primarily driving force for substantive dialogue and collaboration with our external partners through various ASEAN-led mechanisms,” Hun Sen said.
At the closing ceremony, Hun Sen handed over the gavel of the ASEAN Chair to Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
Hun Sen also called for unity, respect and multilateralism at a summit that included China, Russia and the United States, saying current global tensions have created hardships for everyone.
He said he hoped leaders would embrace a “spirit of togetherness in upholding open and inclusive multilateralism, pragmatism and mutual respect in addressing the existential and strategic challenges we all face”.
While he didn’t single out a country by name, there have been long-simmering tensions between the United States and China.
“Many current challenges and tensions have been hindering our past hard-earned efforts to promote sustainable development and causing greater hardship to people’s lives,” he said as he opened the meeting, which is running in parallel to ASEAN’s main summit.