The special summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia was opened in Melbourne. In her welcoming speech, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong emphasized the importance of the consolidation of the countries of the region in order to maintain peace and prosperity. TASS agency informs about it.
“We are all responsible for making the region the way we want it to be: peaceful, stable and prosperous. A region maintaining balance and equality, where each country can pursue its own aspirations, where no one rules and no country is forced to submit,” the minister said.
He reminded that ASEAN should remain a platform that represents the interests of all the countries of the region equally, able to become a place for consolidating efforts and jointly solving common problems.
The ASEAN-Australia Summit will continue in Melbourne until March 6. It is planned that during the meeting, the parties will discuss issues of integration and expansion of cooperation in a number of fields, as well as a number of regional issues.
The key topics will be the crisis in Myanmar and the situation in the South China Sea surrounding disputed water areas from the point of view of some countries. Also on the summit’s agenda are issues such as fisheries management, the education of novice leaders and ensuring the security of supply chains in the event of conflict.
ASEAN was founded in 1967 and unites 10 countries: Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.
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