From July 18-24, Manila will host ASEAN foreign ministers, dialogue partners, and regional forums for a packed week of meetings, with Myanmar’s long-awaited return to regional diplomacy as the biggest story.
All ASEAN foreign ministers will attend the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM), except Myanmar, which will be represented instead by its permanent secretary.
Alongside the AMM, Manila will also host the Post-Ministerial Conference with ASEAN’s dialogue partners, an ASEAN Plus Three meeting with China, Japan, and South Korea.
A high-level ASEAN Regional Forum session will be held, along with the special events marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
Additionally, foreign ministers from Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, and the European Union are also expected to attend.
The Philippines is still waiting for confirmation from the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, on whether he will be present.
Read More: Myanmar Denies ASEAN’s Request for Meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi
Before the Manila meetings, something historic will happen this Sunday. ASEAN foreign ministers will hold an informal meeting with Myanmar’s Foreign Minister U Tin Maung Swe in Bangkok.
It is the first in-person meeting between ASEAN foreign ministers and a Myanmar counterpart since the 2021 military coup.
Myanmar’s foreign minister will brief ASEAN counterparts on the developments inside the country. The ministers will exchange views on how to engage with Myanmar going forward, specifically on the Five-Point Consensus peace plan, which calls for an end to violence, dialogue between all parties, and humanitarian access.
The issue of ASEAN’s request to meet the detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which Myanmar recently refused, is also expected to come up during the talks.
For five years, Myanmar has been almost completely frozen out of ASEAN’s high-level meetings. This step was taken after Myanmar’s junta leaders failed to follow through on the Five-Point Consensus.
Now for the first time since the coup, ASEAN foreign ministers are sitting down directly with Myanmar’s top diplomat.
