Thai PM to attend ASEAN Summit in Malaysia

BANGKOK, April 25 (TNA) - Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha will leave for a three day visit to Malaysia on Sunday for the 2015 ASEAN Summit, according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Spokesman Sek Wannamethee said Malaysia as chairman of ASEAN for 2015 will host the 26th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi, the first to be held this year under the theme called ‘Our People, Our Community, Our Vision’. Besides discussions among government leaders of ASEAN member countries, the leaders will also confer with representatives from several ASEAN organisations including the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Assembly, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council and the ASEAN Youth, Sek said. He said the objectives of the upcoming ASEAN Summit are for the government leaders to review and follow up ASEAN works in the past, to discuss priorities for successful formation of ASEAN Community (AC) by the year end, and to prepare for ASEAN 2025 vision. Participants will also discuss international problems which might affect countries in the region including transnational crime, natural disaster and chronic diseases, he said. Thailand wants to request participants at the summit to push for a successful formation of people-centered ASEAN Community, strengthening farmers and small- and medium-sized enterprises, promoting security cooperation, and for support of the role of Thailand as coordinator between ASEAN and China, Sek said. Three documents including the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on People-Oriented and People-Centred ASEAN, the Langkawi Declaration on the Global Movement of Moderates, and the ASEAN Declaration on Institutionalising the Resilience of ASEAN and its Communities and People to Disasters and Climate Change are expected to be adopted at the Summit, Sek said. Also, General Prayut will confer with fellow ASEAN leaders on bilateral relations on the sidelines of the summit, he added. (TNA)