KOTA TINGGI: Malaysia will be proposing the concept of Asean Community Vision 2045 next year, after assuming its chairmanship from the Laos government at the Asean summit in October this year.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said that the concept will focus on how to make Asean one large community in terms of economy, distribution of energy, and distribution of infrastructure.
“Malaysia has previously proposed the Asean community concept, which will end next year; we plan to propose a new concept for the next 20 years, from 2025 until 2045.
“The aim is to grow together; we are part of 600 million people in Asean, which is currently the fifth largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world and is soon to be the fourth largest within the next two or three years,” he said.
Mohamad, who is the Umno deputy president, said this when met by reporters after the officiating ceremony of the Tenggara Umno Division Meeting at Dewan Felda Sungai Sayong, here, on Saturday (July 13).
He said this when asked to comment on some of the topics that will be discussed during the Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM) and Post-Ministerial Conferences (PMC) in Vientiane, Laos, which will be held from July 23 until July 27.
“Laos, who is currently the Asean chairman, will be bringing up the main topic of resilience and connectivity and how the Asean community can move forward.
“There will be discussion on the situations in Myanmar and the situations in the South China Sea as well.
“We want Asean to remain a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality, especially on the South China Sea issue; we do not want any party to come and try to disrupt the peace that we have in Southeast Asia,” he said.
Besides the Asean countries, there will also be discussion between the 11 Asean Dialogue countries, such as the United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, and the United Kingdom, he added.
“There will be 19 meetings, not including the bilateral meetings between Malaysia and the other countries,” he said.
