Top Southeast Asian diplomats, including Kuwait, assembled for talks a day before a regional summit is set to kick off at a time where the region is navigating through “difficult” circumstances, host nation Indonesia said on Monday.
The Association of Southeast Asia Nation (ASEAN) needs to prove that the regional bloc still holds “significance” in its efforts to contribute towards peace and security in the region, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told the gathering.
The ongoing conflict in Myanmar is taking precedence over other matters in the region, with the Indonesian foreign minister underlining ASEAN’s determination to ensure that a definitive and peaceful resolution to the crisis is ultimately found.
Kuwait has sent a high-level delegation to the ASEAN summit, where some 22 leaders, 10 of whom represent ASEAN member states, will meet for talks in the Indonesian capital.
In a related story, The State of Kuwait officially signed a membership document to join ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC). Deputy Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah inked the note.
TAC was established in 1976, embodying universal principles of peaceful coexistence and friendly cooperation among States in Southeast Asia. It is a legally-binding code for inter-state relations in the region and beyond.
Source: Kuwait News Agency