House Speaker Visits Three Asean Countries

Kuala Lumpur, June 29 (ANTARA) - The House of Representatives (DPR) chairman, Marzuki Alie, visited three ASEAN member countries - Malaysia, Singapore and Myanmar, in effort to discuss the preparations for the 33rd General Assembly to be held in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). The visit is intrinsically to discuss preparations for, initiative of and the results expected to turn out by the 33rd ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) to be held in Lombok on September 16 through 22, 2012, the press statement issued by the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore obtained here on Thursday said. The AIPA will be preceded by the meeting of the Executive Committee (EXCOM) and AIPA Fact Finding Committee (AIFOCOM) to Combat Drug Menace in Yogyakarta on July 8-12, the statement said. Marzuki Alie, concurrently the president of the AIPA, also proposed a theme of Strengthening the Parliamentary Roles towards ASEAN Community 2015. In Singapore (June 26-27), Marzuki and his entourage were received by Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Lui Tuck Yew, Parliament Speaker Michael Palmer, and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. ASEAN groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam.