INDONESIA: Cambodian Foreign Minister, DPM Prak Sokhonn, on Thursday morning, 27 October, chaired the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Special Meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia, to discuss ways to better implement the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) on Myanmar, adopted at the ASEAN Leaders' Meeting on 24 April 2021, and to make recommendations for the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits.
The ASEAN Foreign Ministers exchanged views on ways to strengthen the implementation of the 5PC to help resolve the crisis in Myanmar and re-establish Myanmar's full and normal relations with ASEAN.
In particular, the foreign ministers raised the importance of continuing the ASEAN Community's uninterrupted efforts and means to facilitate and expedite the provision of humanitarian assistance to the people of Myanmar, and the rapid completion of the Joint Needs Assessment, led by the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Management (AHA Center).
According to a statement from the Chair of the Special ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, DPM Prak Sokhonn, issued by the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, non-political representatives from Myanmar have also been invited to the meeting, but so far there has been no positive response from Myanmar.
The statement further acknowledges that the situation in Myanmar is still deteriorating and very fragile, but this is not due to a lack of commitment and effort from ASEAN and the Special Envoys, but rather because of the complexity and difficulty of Myanmar's decades-long conflict, exacerbated by the current political crisis.
"Despite these great challenges, the Meeting agreed that ASEAN should not be discouraged, but even more determined to help Myanmar to bring about a peaceful solution the soonest possible," said DPM Prak Sokhonn.
The Foreign Ministers and representatives of the ASEAN Member States who attended the meeting reiterated their full support for Cambodia's strong efforts as ASEAN Chair and DPM Prak Sokhonn's role as the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar.
The meeting also recalled the first visit of Prime Minister Hun Sen to Myanmar at the beginning of 2022, which paved the way for the two visits of the Special Envoy.
DPM Prak Sokhon stressed that he remains firmly committed to promoting the three priorities that Cambodia has set since assuming the ASEAN Chairmanship: to end or reduce violence, facilitate humanitarian assistance delivery and create an enabling environment for political dialogue among all parties concerned.
DPM Prak Sokhonn emphasized that the time to act is now, and ASEAN needs to act together with respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and the interests of the people of Myanmar at the core.
"The Meeting also acknowledged that all concerned parties in Myanmar have a stake in ending or worsening the current political crisis that has caused the loss of many lives, severe destruction to the country, and long-lasting effects on the economy, and it is of utmost necessity and urgency that a dialogue process shall commence the soonest possible," he further added.
