All systems are working: ASEAN president ready to host summits, the Khmer Times newspaper wrote on its front page this Monday, stressing that these are the first meetings at this level to be held in person since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. 19
More than a dozen high-level meetings are scheduled over these four days: the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits, the regional bloc meeting with China, Japan, South Korea, the United States, India, the UN and Australia, and so on of the so-called ASEAN + 3 (China, Japan and South Korea).
In addition, the ASEAN-Canada Memorial Summit, the 17th East Asia Summit and the Association’s Second Global Dialogue on the Post-Covid-19 Recovery, which will be attended by the heads of some of the most important international organizations, will be held.
According to a Foreign Ministry statement quoted by the publication itself, leaders of the bloc will meet with King Norodom Sihamoni at the Royal Palace ahead of the top-level meetings.
Also ahead of the summits, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn will chair the 25th meeting of the ASEAN Political and Security Community Council and the 31st meeting of the Alliance’s Coordination Council.
Sokhnom will also lead the act of signing the instruments of accession to the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Southeast Asia by Spain and Ukraine.
Nearly all invited nations and organizations have already confirmed their participation, foreign ministry sources said, adding that Prime Minister of Malaysia Ismail Sabri Yaakob and his counterpart from India Narendra Modi may miss due to absentee elections in their countries. .
Russia has yet to confirm whether its President Vladimir Putin will attend such a summit, so the president’s attendance may only become clear at the last minute, they added.
The press media here also indicate that before the summits, both Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang will pay an official visit to Cambodia, during which they will take part in the signing of a number of cooperation documents .bilateral.
jf/mpm