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Southeast Asian delegations jet into Laos for Foreign Minister's retreat

Xinhua, February 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Top diplomats and delegations from across 10 countries commenced descent into the Lao capital Thursday in preparation for Saturday's Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers Retreat.

Hosted in Laos by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Thongloun Sisoulith, Saturday's annual ministerial-level confab is expected to continue ongoing efforts among the 10 member states to build mutually-beneficial regionally-integrated economic, political-security and socio-cultural communities while strengthening multilateral ties with a variety of external partners.

The Retreat comes ahead of the ASEAN Leaders Summit slated for Laos in September at which leaders of both member and several partner states are expected to be represented.

Saturday's gathering of the region's foreign ministers is the first to be held since the official establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community on December 31, 2015.

The holding of the gathering in Laos as part of its 2016 ASEAN chairmanship year comes following the recent transition in the leadership of the country's ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party at its recent 5-yearly 10th Congress held in January. Enditem