Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Leader of the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting of the Lao PDR, Thongphan Savanphet, chaired the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting and the Executive Committee meeting of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Commission under the theme “ASEAN: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience.”

Senior officials from ASEAN member states and Timor Leste attended the meeting, which noted significant progress in implementing the nine priorities and programs for Laos’ ASEAN chairmanship to achieve the theme “ASEAN: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience.”

Participants discussed the promotion of the ASEAN Community, devising strategic plans to realize the ASEAN Community Vision 2045. This vision comprises four strategic plans: the ASEAN Political-Security Community Plan of Action, ASEAN Economic Community Plan of Action, ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Plan of Action, and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity.

The meeting also covered cooperation between ASEAN and external partners, applications from countries wishing to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, and preparations for upcoming significant meetings, including the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, meetings between ASEAN Foreign Ministers and their counterparts from dialogue partner countries, the 25th ASEAN+3 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the 14th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and the 31st ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting, scheduled for July 24-27 in Vientiane.