ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn said that it is necessary to closely follow developments in the East Sea. (Photo: DQ)

At a press conference at the ASEAN Secretariat headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 30, ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn announced the outstanding results of the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM-57) and related meetings.

In addition, the ASEAN Secretary General gave comments and assessments on a number of prominent regional issues such as the situation in the East Sea and Myanmar.

Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn said that recent tensions between the Philippines and China in the East Sea have affected the negotiation process between China and ASEAN towards completing the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

However, the ASEAN Secretary-General affirmed: “I believe that the Philippines and China are working together to reduce tensions, so hopefully that will have a positive impact on the current COC negotiation process. ASEAN countries also agreed to resolve some outstanding issues to be able to speed up the negotiation process. With the commitment of the Philippines and China to reduce tensions, I think that is a positive development, but we need to continue to monitor developments in the coming time.”

Regarding the situation in Myanmar, ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn said: “There has been some progress, especially in the area of ​​humanitarian assistance to the people of Myanmar. ASEAN always does its best, cooperates with Myanmar and relevant parties to resolve the issue, and we also expect Myanmar to commit to implementing the 5-point consensus. The 5-point consensus plan remains the plan that ASEAN is committed to implementing as well as expecting the support of partners for this plan.”

At the press conference, the ASEAN Secretary-General also reviewed the results achieved at the AMM-57 and related conferences held in Laos, with an assessment of the implementation progress of ASEAN's key priorities in 2024 as well as the process of building the ASEAN Community; at the same time, many important documents were adopted, serving as a basis for implementing cooperation within the bloc and between ASEAN and its partners in the coming time.