Malaysia Ready For Asean Foreign Ministers' Retreat

KOTA KINABALU (Sabah, Malaysia), Jan 28 (Bernama) -- The Senior Officials' Meeting held in conjunction with the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat 2015 here ended Tuesday evening after it began at 9am. Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Othman Hashim said several series of preparatory meetings which were held since Monday would hopefully facilitate the agenda of the retreat at the ministerial level here Wednesday. "The meeting is the first for ASEAN senior officials this year as an opening act to Malaysia's chairmanship of the grouping. "Among the issues discussed were the follow-up actions on the decisions made by the leaders at the ASEAN Summit in Myanmar last year," he told reporters after the meeting. Othman said the meeting Tuesday also focused on Malaysia's plans as the chairman of ASEAN, with the support and cooperation of the other member countries. He added that there were other follow-up actions which needed to be implemented by the member countries before the ASEAN Community 2015 could be established. "We are also in the process of drafting the Post-2015 Vision for ASEAN and we need to work hard until the end of this year. "Other than that, we also discussed areas of cooperation to bring ASEAN closer to the public," he said. Malaysia took over as Chairman of ASEAN from Myanmar on Jan 1 at a time when the ASEAN Community is scheduled to be a reality by the end of this year. Asked about the discussions on the formation of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, Othman said: "The work is in progress. We have been able to engage with China, we have been talking to them. "We hope what we are doing will contribute to peace and stability not only in the South China Sea but also for the region." Besides chairing the senior officials meeting, Othman also chaired the ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group (ACCWG) on the ASEAN Community Vision Post-2015. -- BERNAMA