JAKARTA: At his first ASEAN Summit as prime minister, Hun Manet continued his father’s tradition of meeting his Vietnamese and Laotian counterparts for breakfast before the official summit began.

On the morning of September 5, Prime Minister Hun Manet met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính of Vietnam and Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone of Laos to continue the tradition of the three peninsular countries discussing trilateral topics over breakfast before the start of the ASEAN Summit.

The leaders pledged to work together to resolve outstanding issues at the conference and reaffirmed their commitment to completing border demarcations between their countries in a timely matter. They said they would continue to cooperate in socio-economic aspects, security and cultural exchange in addition to improving connectivity between their countries through improved infrastructure.

This also marks the first time Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone has attended the traditional breakfast, having just taken office himself in December 2022.

The Prime Minister of Vietnam sent warm greetings to former Prime Minister Hun Sen and said he would like to meet with him in the future, while the Prime Minister of Laos invited Hun Manet to pay an official visit in 2024.