The annual ASEAN leaders' gathering in Vientiane, Laos saw Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra hold numerous meetings with world leaders. Discussions focused on the value of regional cooperation amidst global tensions and challenges like the ongoing conflict in Myanmar.
VIENTIANE, Laos – Over three days, new Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra held what must be a record 15 individual meetings with world leaders. Remarkably, she managed all of these and a litany of nearly 20 other meetings at the annual Asean leaders’ gathering in Vientiane.
“It is important that Asean and Asean partners show that there can be a different way. A way where we work together and benefit from more integration, rather than more isolation,” he“Where we can benefit from win-win cooperation and free trade,” added PM Wong. The Asean Summits marked his first multilateral meeting since he wasAsean’s 10 member states make up the third-largest regional economy in Asia and the fifth-largest in the world, lending significant clout to the grouping.
Previous attempts at informal dialogues with Myanmar were largely lopsided or scattered, involving just a handful of Asean members like Indonesia and Thailand, with third-party countries such as China and India also having separate engagements. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone and his wife Vandala Siphandone before a gala dinner on Oct 10. PHOTO: REUTERS
Still, engagements in the past week in Vientiane have yielded a bevy of agreements between Asean and its partners, with steps taken on free trade agreements, the digital economy, as well as pledges on security and sustainability.
ASEAN Laos Thailand Myanmar Diplomacy Regional Cooperation
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