Online Registration For Asean Ministers' Retreat Begins Monday

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), Dec 17 (Bernama) -- The online registration for delegations to the Asean Foreign Ministers' Retreat next month would open next Monday (Dec 22), said Asean 2015 Logistics Secretariat head, K.Ilankovan (left). He said all delegates were requested to register online at www.asean2015.gov.my and the registration exercise would close after Jan 19, 2015. "Some 300 delegates are expected to attend the retreat, and 100 to 150 media personnel will be covering the event," he told Bernama after briefing Asean member countries' ambassadors and officials on the upcoming retreat, at Wisma Putra (Foreign Affairs Ministry), here, Wednesday. Malaysia assumes the chairmanship of Asean beginning Jan 1, 2015 from Myanmar. The two-day 26th summit will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on April 26 and 27, next year. The Asean Foreign Ministers Retreat, to be held at the Sutera Harbour Resort, Kota Kinabalu on Jan 27-28, will be the curtain raiser for the series of ministerial and related meetings under Malaysia's Asean chairmanship in 2015. According to the briefing Wednesday, the retreat will begin with the Asean Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) and Asean Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) meeting from Jan 25 to 26. Also touched on during the briefing Wednesday were programmes for the spouses, security arrangements and provision of personal security officers. Ilankovan said the objective of the briefing was to update the Asean member countries on all the arrangements including logistical that Wisma Putra had made. "We let them (Asean member countries' representatives) know so that they can coordinate," he said, adding that the username and password for each Asean member country were also given during Wednesday's briefing. Other speakers during the briefing were head of Security Asean 2015, ACP Abdul Aziz Md Khalid and Asean 2015 Logistics Secretariat secretary, Wan Zaidi Wan Abdullah. The briefing was followed by a question-and-answer session, where the embassy officials asked about the facilities available for their foreign ministers during their transit at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) before taking the domestic flight to Kota Kinabalu. During the retreat, the Asean foreign ministers are expected to discuss the priorities of Asean for 2015 and the Asean Community's Post-2015 Vision. Themed 'Our People, Our Community, Our Vision', Malaysia's vision throughout the chairmanship is the creation of a people-centred Asean involving all sectors of society in the grouping's activities. Formed on Aug 8, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, the membership of Asean has expanded to include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.(photoBernama) -- BERNAMA