(KPL) On 25 May 2025, Mr. Thongsavanh Phomvihane, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR, led a delegation to attend the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Committee Meeting, the 29th ASEAN Political-Security Community Council Meeting, the 34th ASEAN Coordination Council Meeting, and the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council Foreign Ministers’ Meeting chaired by the Foreign Minister of Malaysia as the 2025 ASEAN Chair.

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting took note of the progress of cooperation in various fields under the ASEAN Community and the implementation of Malaysia’s ASEAN Chair priorities in 2025 under the theme “Comprehensive and Sustainable Participation”, which was seen as making good progress. The meeting discussed the proposal to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia by countries outside the region.

The meeting discussed the progress of the implementation of the five ASEAN Leaders’ Agreements on Myanmar, the progress of Timor-Leste’s preparations for ASEAN membership was discussed.

The Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Committee meeting adopted additional documents to amend the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty to enable the process of Timor-Leste’s accession to the Treaty.

The 29th ASEAN Political-Security Community Council reviewed the progress of the implementation of activities and work of sectors under the ASEAN Political-Security Community pillar, including the implementation of the ASEAN Political-Security Community Master Plan 2025.

The 36th ASEAN Coordinating Council discussed preparations for the 46th ASEAN Summit and related summits to be held on 26-27 May 2025, including the outcome documents of those summits.

In this regard, the meeting agreed to adopt the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and the Strategic Plan for the ASEAN Political-Security Community, the Strategic Plan for the ASEAN Economic Community, the Strategic Plan for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community and the Strategic Plan for ASEAN Connectivity to be proposed to ASEAN Leaders for formal adoption at the 46th ASEAN Summit to guide ASEAN cooperation for the next 20 years.

In addition, the meeting also took note of and adopted relevant reports, including the Report of the ASEAN Secretary-General on ASEAN Work to the 46th ASEAN Summit, the Report of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN, the Report of the Task Force on ASEAN Connectivity Initiatives and the Report of the ASEAN Connectivity Coordination Committee.

The ASEAN-GCC Ministerial Meeting discussed and highly appreciated the progress of the implementation of the ASEAN-GCC Cooperation Framework (2024-2028), which is a basic document for enhancing ASEAN-GCC cooperation, the meeting also encouraged the two regions to strengthen cooperation in areas of mutual potential, such as promoting economic cooperation by finding ways to increase trade and investment and energy cooperation, etc. The meeting also reiterated the importance of cooperation in the digital economy, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, connectivity, people-to-people exchanges and tourism, the meeting also discussed preparations for the 2nd ASEAN-GCC Summit and the ASEAN-GCC-China Summit to be held on 27 May 2025.

KPL