(VOVWORLD) - Senior officials from ten ASEAN countries and partners gathered in Manila, the Phiippines, on Friday for the ASEAN + 3 Officials Meeting (SOM ASEAN+3) and the East Asia Summit Senior Officials Meeting (SOM EAS).
Filipino Deputy Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo (Photo: VNA)
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The meetings were part of the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-50) and related meetings scheduled for next Monday.
Addressing the SOM ASEAN+3 with China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, Filipino Deputy Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo praised the cooperation and contributions to the ASEAN+3 fund by the three partner countries, especially Japan. He said the meeting coincides with the 20th anniversary of cooperation between the bloc and the 3 East Asian countries and provides an opportunity to assess the role of ASEAN+3 and its contributions to regional cooperation.
At the EAS SOM meeting, senior officials discussed the action plan to realize the Phnom Penh statement, focusing on priority areas such as finance, energy, education, connectivity, healthcare, natural disasters and epidemics.
Deputies also debated the materials for the upcoming EAS Foreign Ministers Meeting and the EAS Summit in November.
ASEAN Foreign Ministers held a dialogue with representatives of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and attended the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (SEANWFZ) meeting.