Malaysia will carry the hopes and aspirations of more than 600 million people in the region as it chairs ASEAN in the final stages of establishing an ASEAN Community 2015.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato’ Sri Anifah Aman said Malaysia is “conscious of our role in the region as well as in the global community.”
Dato’ Sri Anifah stressed the importance of working together with other ASEAN Member States in maintaining ASEAN centrality in confronting the challenges facing the region, especially during this important year.
“We must not be diluted and become a spectator,” he stressed during a courtesy call by the Secretary-General of ASEAN, H.E Le Luong Minh at Wisma Putra.
Both Dato’ Sri Anifah and SG Minh agreed that it was of paramount importance of engaging the wider public in ASEAN integration and Community-building efforts. “Promoting people-centred ASEAN is a central theme of Malaysia’s Chairmanship and our success would be measured by the benefit to the people that we are serving,” SG Minh said, referring to Malaysia’s Chairmanship theme of “Our People, Our Community, Our Vision.”
The call on the Foreign Minister on Jan. 7, 2015 was the first meeting by the Secretary-General and his delegation from the ASEAN Secretariat as part of providing support and assistance to Malaysia during its Chairmanship. The Secretary-General also paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak and on several other Ministers on Jan. 8. (ASEAN Secretariat News)
