Cambodia gears up for asean summit

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PHNNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: All eyes will be on Cambodia this November 18 when the country plays host to leaders from around the world for the 21st Asean Summit, Borneo Bulletin reported.

The Asean Summit and its related summits will be taking place at the Peace Palace, here in The Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, and will bring together Asean leaders and dialogue partners.

One major upcoming highlight will be the “Symbolic Handover of the Asean Chairmanship from Cambodia to Brunei Darussalam” as mentioned in the event’s official programme from the International Media Centre at the Peace Palace.

The event will see Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, handover the Asean Chairmanship to His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam.

Aside from the state leaders of Asean, the summit is also expected to welcome eight world leaders from outside Asean.

The list includes newly re-elected US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as well as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.

A Xinhua news report, however, said Russian President Vladimir Putin will be unable to attend the forthcoming summits because of some obligations in his country, according to Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

Scheduled in the event’s programme are a number of meetings between the leaders over the course of the summit, while a number of signing ceremonies as well as the official launch of the Asean Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR) are also expected.

Also to be officially launched is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Negotiation (RCEP). The signing ceremonies include one for the “Third Protocol to Amend the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation” as well as the “Protocol to Incorporate Technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures into the Agreement on Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Cooperation” between Asean and the People’s Republic of China by the AseanChina AEM.

Another signing ceremony is the “Asean Leaders’ Statement on the Asean Human Rights Declaration”.

A senior official told the Borneo Bulletin that Brunei’s term as Asean Chair next year will be of great significance to both the country and the association as it will see the member states continue and press on with their work to achieve the Asean Community by 2015, by building on what has already been done.

It was added that all efforts are being put into achieving this goal. The 215t Asean Summit and its related summits will be officially opened on November 18 and will be brought to a close on November 20.