All top foreign leaders from around the world have confirmed their attendance for the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and related Summits to be hosted by Laos in Vientiane this week.
The leaders include US President Barack Obama, President of the Republic of Korea Park Geun-hye, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ ASEAN Department Director General Mr. Phongsavanh Sisoulath told Vientiane Times yesterday that Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev will also take part in the summits.
In the meantime, other heads of states/governments from ASEAN nations have also confirmed their attendance for the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits which will be opened by the President of the Lao PDR Mr. Bounnhang Vorachit today.
US President Barack Obama is paying an official state visit to Laos from September 5-7 in response to an invitation from Lao President Mr. Bounnhang Vorachit.
An official welcome ceremony for the US president will be held today in the capital.
Mr. Obama will become the first US president to visit Laos, further enhancing the relationship and cooperation between Laos and America, and also attending the 4th ASEAN-US Summit and 11th East Asia Summit.
Meanwhile, Korean President Park Geun-hye will attend the summits in Laos this week which the Korean side believed would provide an important opportunity to realise the potential for cooperation in various areas, including people-to-people exchanges, trade and investment, as well as healthcare and women’s development.
In addition, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will visit Laos and attend a number of summits in the capital from September 6-9.
According to a Xinhua report, Mr. Li Keqiang will also attend the 11th East Asia Summit, the 19th China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders’ meeting, a summit marking the 25th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN, and the 19th ASEAN-China, Japan and Republic of Korea (10+3) leaders’ meeting.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying was quoted in Xinhua as saying that Li’s attendance at the East Asian leaders’ meetings would promote China-ASEAN ties and enhance regional cooperation.
The Chinese side stood ready to work with ASEAN to hold a successful summit and take the 25th anniversary of dialogue relations as an opportunity to build a closer China-ASEAN community of common destiny, she said.
“We expect the East Asian cooperation meetings to focus on development, and push forward cooperation in such areas as finance, capacity, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, free trade area construction, and non-traditional security,” the spokesperson said.
In the meantime, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe left Sunday for the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in China, to be followed by a series of ASEAN meetings in Laos.
These include the 19th ASEAN-Japan summit, 19th ASEAN Plus Three Summit; and the East Asia Summit, bringing together Japan, China and South Korea plus Australia, India, New Zealand, Russia and the United States; and a summit with the Mekong nations of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
Source: Vientiane Times
