PHNOM PENH: The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Prak Sokhonn, confirmed to the UN Security Council on 28 January that the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting will now be held on 16-17 February.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn, the meeting will discuss the arrangements for his first visit to Myanmar as the ASEAN Special Envoy, the priority of implementing the Five-Point Consensus and organizing multilateral consultative meetings on humanitarian assistance, with the support and cooperation of the ASEAN Secretariat and the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (UNSG). Also to be discussed is the Special Envoy’s work to gather all practical humanitarian approaches from experts, locals, regional and international humanitarian agencies to facilitate the immediate delivery of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar.

Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhon stressed, "All our activities are based on the spirit of the Five-Point Consensus and the ASEAN Charter. There are many other issues and challenges besides the crisis in Myanmar that ASEAN needs to address and, in addition, we need to improve the welfare of the whole region, we cannot let the crisis in Myanmar pull us backwards, and we must work together to address these challenges together."

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting was previously scheduled to be held on 18-19 January, but due to the difficulties related to travel and attendance among many ASEAN Foreign Ministers, the meeting was postponed.

The ASEAN Foreign Minister’s Retreat, also known as the AMM retreat, was established in 1967 to focus on ASEAN political-security cooperation and ASEAN member relations with external parties within the ASEAN region. The AMM meets at least four times a year and may also convene for special meetings when necessary to discuss issues that need urgent attention from ASEAN. The AMM regularly reviews and discusses efforts to build the ASEAN Community, its strategic future direction, and the conduct of ASEAN external relations.