A symbolic handover of the Asean chairmanship for 2013 is expected take place between Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at the culmination of the summits at the Peace Palace.
Following the annual Asean leaders meeting, the 7th East Asia Summit on November 20 will bring together eight additional world leaders to Phnom Penh, including US President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.
“The forthcoming 21st Asean Summit will promote the Asean integration process and strengthen the bloc’s central role in the region’s evolving regional academic and social architecture,” said Hun Sen last month in a Xinhua report.
According to the news agency, the agendas of the forthcoming summit have yet to be disclosed as of Monday, however “analysts envisaged that the summits will touch on a number of issues including economics, trade, security, human rights, environment and climate change”.
Meanwhile, preparations for the summits in Phnom Penh are well underway. It was reported by Xinhua that over 10,000 security forces will be deployed in the capital in order to ensure security and safety for the foreign leaders attending the summits.
The news agency also reported that more than 1,600 reporters from around the world have registered with Cambodia’s Ministry of Information to cover the 21st Asean Summit and related summits in Phnom Penh.
This will be the second Asean Summit hosted by Cambodia this year as the previous summit was also held in Phnom Penh in April 3 to 4, where the Asean leaders including His Majesty exchanged views regional and international issues.
Themed “Asean: One Community, One Destiny”, among the highlights of the summit was the deliberation on the implementation of the Declaration of Conduct (DOC) of Parties in the South China Sea.
The 20th Asean Summit also saw the adoption of “The Phnom Penh Declaration on Asean: One Community, One Destiny”, “The Phnom Penh Agenda for Asean Community Building” and the “Asean Leaders Declaration on Drug-Free Asean 2015″. Two statements were also issued at the end of the summit, referred to as the chairmans statement on the “45th Anniversary of Asean: The Way Forward”, and the chairmans statement of the 20th Asean Summit.
Founded in 1967, Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Cambodia became a full member of Asean in 1999. The country chaired its first Asean Summit in 2002 after three years of membership.-One Southeast Asia Faith and Studies (November 15, 2012)
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