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Sugiono reaffirms new administration’s support for ASEAN
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A woman walks past the ASEAN logo on Jan. 17, 2025, ahead of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' (AMM) retreat meeting at the Langkawi International Convention Centre on Malaysia's resort island of Langkawi. (AFP/Mohd Rasfan)
F
oreign Minister Sugiono has called for unity and the strengthening of ASEAN institutional capacity, underlining that it was “no longer possible” for Southeast Asian countries to go it alone as the current geopolitical landscape continues to present threats to the stability and security of the region.
Sugiono made the statement on Sunday during his first ever ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Langkawi, Malaysia, encouraging the group to enhance its mechanism and the capacity of its various bodies to play a proactive role in advancing regional stability and prosperity.
Southeast Asia’s top diplomats gathered on the Malaysian resort island for a two-day weekend retreat to set the stage for Kuala Lumpur’s chairmanship, mulling over some of the region’s most pressing issues under the theme of inclusivity and sustainability.
According to the chair statement released by Malaysia, the meeting discussed how to keep the region free of nuclear weapons, advance negotiations for a code of conduct (COC) on the South China Sea and to curb transnational crimes. The unabating crisis in Myanmar, the rising tensions in the Korean Peninsula and global issues such as wars in Gaza and Ukraine were also on the table of discussion.
