ASEAN leaders' summit kicks off in Laos on Wednesday
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders' summit began in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on Wednesday, with calls for progress on a peace plan agreed upon between Myanmar and other ASEAN members following the 2021 coup in the southeast Asian country.
The ASEAN leaders welcomed the participation of a Myanmar junta official in the meeting, reiterating their stance of not permitting the junta chief to attend the organization's meetings without "concrete progress" on the peace plan, the Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.
Aung Kyaw Moe, the permanent secretary of Myanmar's Foreign Ministry, attended the summit.
It marked the first regular ASEAN summit attended by a Myanmar representative since the 2021 military coup.
In October 2021, the other ASEAN leaders decided to allow only one non-political representative from Myanmar to attend, prompting the country to boycott the previous meetings.
The meeting urged "all stakeholders and parties" in Myanmar's ongoing civil war, in particular the military, to de-escalate violence and stop targeted attacks on civilians and public facilities.
The Myanmar representative, for his part, emphasized the importance of humanitarian assistance to the war-stricken country from within the regional bloc, including Thailand's initiative to provide aid for displaced civilians through a humanitarian corridor as well as contributions from other nations, the UN and the private sector.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.Earlier, in a short statement on X, the ASEAN Secretariat said the summit started with the opening ceremony which will be followed by a plenary session and a retreat session.
"ASEAN Leaders will engage with representatives from AIPA (ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly), ASEAN-BAC (ASEAN Business Advisory Council), and ASEAN Youth," it said.
The ASEAN region is home to more than 700 million people, spans 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers), and recorded a total GDP of $3.62 trillion in 2022.
