Prayut opens 52nd Asean foreign ministers meeting

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha officially opened and presided over the 52nd Asean meeting of foreign ministers’ this morning (July 31) at Bangkok’s Centara Grand Hotel and Bangkok Convention Centre.
The event included the foreign ministers of Asean countries and their negotiation partners, as well as from guest countries including Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Norway, Turkey, Switzerland, along with Asean’s secretary.
During his welcome speech, Prayut said that as the 2019 Asean President, Thailand is committed to building a people-centred community that leaves no one behind and is better prepared for the future. “Under the motto of ‘Advancing Partnership for Sustainability’,” he said, “we will build a sustainable and steadily growing community that is ready for changes and challenges by collaborating with overseas partners with a focus on people’s benefits.”
The PM also referred to the 2019 G20 Summit that took place last June in Osaka, Japan, where Thailand as current Asean President presented the results of 34th Asean Summit that focused on creating cooperation in four key aspects. The first area of cooperation was utilisation of financial technology, while the second was the reduction of development disparity between urban and rural areas. The third area of cooperation was preserving and restoring the environment and natural resources, while the fourth was the development of human capital. Practical implementation of these partnership concepts will be further discussed at the 35th Asean Summit in November 2019.
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said that the Bangkok meeting will focus on preparing Asean members for digital challenges that come with the fourth industrial revolution, climate change and international crimes.
“Furthermore, Asean members will need to work together and seek partnership outside the region,” he said. “This will help in the building of new collaborations that contribute to sustainable development, such as marine economic cooperation.”