PH to Host Meetings of Senior Officials from ASEAN and ASEAN’s External Partners
19 May 2017, Manila-- The Philippines is all set to host the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (ASEAN SOM), ASEAN Plus Three Senior Officials Meeting (APT SOM), East Asia Summit Senior Officials Meeting (EAS SOM) and ASEAN Regional Forum Senior Officials Meeting (ARF SOM) on 21-24 May 2017 in Manila. Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary and Director-General of the ASEAN-Philippines National Secretariat Ma. Hellen B. De La Vega, in her capacity as Acting Senior Official of ASEAN-Philippines, will chair the said meetings.
Discussions among Senior Officials during the Meetings will focus on follow-up actions to the recently held 30th ASEAN Summit in Manila, and preparations for the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM), Post Ministerial Conferences (PMCs) with the Dialogue Partners, 18th APT Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, 7th EAS Foreign Ministers Meeting, , and the 24th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) scheduled to be held on 2-8 August 2017 also in Manila.
The APT mechanism involving ten (10) ASEAN Member States (namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam), China, Japan, and Republic of Korea, serves as a venue for functional cooperation between and among the parties.
The EAS is a regional leaders-led forum for strategic dialogue which promotes closer regional integration and cooperation in the East Asia region. Membership of the EAS includes the ten (10) AMS, Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia, and the United States.
The ARF aims to foster constructive dialogue and consultation on political and security issues of common interest and concern and to promote confidence-building and preventive diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region. The 27 ARF Participating Countries include the ten (10) AMS, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, and the United States. END