THE ASEAN-Canada Ministerial Meeting was held yesterday morning at 7:30 am via videoconference. The meeting was CoChaired by Union Minister for Foreign Affairs U Wunna Maung Lwin and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Honorable Marc Garneau. Foreign Ministers and their representative from the ASEAN Member States and the Secretary-General of ASEAN also attended the Meeting.
At
the opening remarks, Union Minister for Foreign Affairs noted the progress made
in the ASEAN-Canada Dialogue Relations and that ASEAN hoped to deepen
cooperation in many other areas to strengthen partnership with Canada. He also
said that both ASEAN and Canada struggled against COVID-19 and thanked Canada
for supporting the ASEAN’s COVID-19 Response Initiatives, especially for
supporting the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund. He hoped that Canada will deepen cooperation
not only across the three community pillars but also in other important areas
such as health care and digital technology which were important for ASEAN and
Canada, especially for the CLMV countries. He also delivered the ASEAN Common
Statement on behalf of ASEAN Member States.
ASEAN
Foreign Ministers and the Secretary-General of ASEAN also made their remarks at
the Meeting.
The
meeting concluded with closing remarks by Foreign Ministers of Canada, Myanmar
and Malaysia as the new country coordinator for ASEAN-Canada Dialogue Relations
for 2021 to 2024. Union Minister in his closing remarks said that the candid
discussions they have had would continue to pave the way to step up
ASEAN-Canada Dialogue Relation and that the Meeting looked forward to working
closely with Canada for peace, stability and prosperity in the region and
beyond with shared interests and possible areas of collaboration. He also said
that Myanmar and Canada have had a very long-standing relationship and hoped
that Canada will also work with Myanmar in Myanmar’s efforts. On five-point
consensus, Union Minister informed that Myanmar had welcomed the proposal of
Brunei Darussalam, as the ASEAN Chair, to appoint Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof,
Minister of Foreign Affairs II of Brunei Darussalam as the special envoy and
that he looked forward to working closely with him as Minister of Foreign
Affairs II as well as in his capacity as the special envoy.
Union
Minister also attended the ASEAN-New Zealand Ministerial Meeting which was held
shortly after the ASEAN-Canada Ministerial Meeting. The Meeting was co-chaired
by Prak Sokhonn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and
International Cooperation of Cambodia and Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Foreign
Affairs of New Zealand. During the meeting, Union Minister appreciated New
Zealand’s consistent support to narrowing the development gaps within ASEAN,
particularly through Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), encouraged ASEAN
and New Zealand to enhance cooperation for the promotion of people to people
exchange, capacity building and human capacity development in post-pandemic.
The Minister acknowledged New Zealand’s contribution in response to COVID-19
and reiterated to enhance the regional economic recovery.
At
3:00 pm, Union Minister attended the conferment ceremony on accepting the
United Kingdom as ASEAN Dialogue Partner held via videoconference.
U
Chan Aye, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, participated
in the 1st Friends of the Mekong Ministerial Meeting held in the evening today.
The meeting was chaired by the United States with the participation of
Representatives of FOM members; Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Viet Nam, Australia,
Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Asian Development Bank (ADB), European
Union (EU), Mekong River Commission Secretariat (MRC), World Bank (WB), and
ASEAN Secretary-General. India and United Kingdom also participated as
observers. In the statement, Permanent Secretary U Chan Aye recalled the
objectives of the FOM mechanism which is to make coordination in assisting in
the development of the Mekong Region and pointed out to respect rules in the
implementation process of cooperation based on the principles of Mekong-US
Partnership such as the principle of mutual respect and non-interference. He
also suggested the importance to produce tangible benefits from the FOM
mechanism in particular of promoting equitable access to COVID-19 vaccine for
countries that are facing a spike in the cases, post-pandemic economic recovery
and addressing non-traditional challenges.
Senior
Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also attended these meetings and
ceremonies.
MNA
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