Phnom Penh (VNA) - Ambassador Vu Ho, Acting Head of ASEAN SOM Vietnam, joined other ASEAN senior officials in their meeting in preparation for the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM-55) and relevant meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on August 1.

Participants discussed and agreed on the agenda and activities of the Foreign Ministerial Meetings.

This AMM is of great significance as it is the largest and most important foreign ministerial meeting of the year, and it is also the first time that the foreign ministers of ASEAN countries and representatives of nearly 20 partners have met face-to-face after 3 years of interruption by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the next four days, the ASEAN FMs and their partners will attend more than 20 activities within the framework of ASEAN, ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3, the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), focusing their discussion on the process of building the ASEAN Community; mapping out orientations for the ASEAN Community’s development after 2025; reviewing and orienting the relationships between ASEAN and its partners.

The ASEAN senior officials also reviewed thenegotiations and building of documents to be submitted to the foreignministers, including the joint statement of the 55th ASEAN ForeignMinisters’ Meeting.

They also discussed ASEAN’s priorities in 2022 andaffirmed their support for Cambodia – ASEAN Chair – to successfully implementthe set priorities. They also compared notes on regional and internationalissues.

The FMs are scheduled to begin the first activitieswithin the AMM-55 and related meetings, including the Meeting of the SoutheastAsia Nuclear Weapon Free-zone Commission, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’Interface Meeting with ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human RightsRepresentatives, the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conferences with ASEAN’s DialoguePartners, the 23rd ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the 12th EastAsia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and the 29th ASEAN Regional Forum./