Committee Of Permanent Representatives To Asean Meets In Kota Kinabalu

By R. Ravichandran KOTA KINABALU (Sabah, Malaysia), Jan 26 (Bernama) -- One of the preparatory meetings for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat began here Monday morning. It is the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR). The meeting is being held at the Magellan Sutera Harbour Resort, which is also the venue for the ministers' retreat on Jan 27 and 28. The closed-door CPR meeting is expected to end at about 5 pm Monday. It is being chaired by Malaysia’s Permanent Representative to Asean, Hasnudin Hamzah (middle), who took over as the chair of the CPR from Myanmar's Min Lwin last month. The CPR, established in 2009, is viewed as an important mechanism in ASEAN’s community-building efforts and has an important role in ensuring the realisation of the ASEAN Community this year and ASEAN Community's Post-2015 Vision. The Jakarta-based CPR was established by the ASEAN Charter. The Asean Secretariat website states that under the leadership of Myanmar in 2014, the CPR accomplished important tasks including, among others, the CPR’s robust support for ASEAN’s community-building efforts, its ongoing efforts to strengthen the capacity and capability of the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, as well as its extensive engagement with Dialogue Partners and other external partners of the 10-member regional grouping. The ASEAN Charter stipulates that each member state shall appoint a Permanent Representative to ASEAN with the rank of Ambassador based at the ASEAN Secretariat, and the permanent representatives collectively constitute a Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR). The CPR, among others, supports the work of the ASEAN Community Councils and ASEAN Sectoral Ministerial Bodies and facilitates ASEAN cooperation with external partners. Meanwhile, ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) leaders and delegates are also scheduled to arrive here Monday to attend their respective meetings. The SOM is scheduled to take place Tuesday. Monday night, the leaders and delegates they will attend a welcome dinner at a restaurant at the resort. Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman is scheduled to hold a press conference at a hotel here at about 2.30 pm. Malaysia assumed the ASEAN chairmanship on Jan 1, taking over from Myanmar. Malaysia's vision throughout the chairmanship, carrying the theme 'Our People, Our Community, Our Vision', is the creation of a people-centred ASEAN involving all sectors of society in the grouping's activities. ASEAN groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (photoBERNAMA) -- BERNAMA