Jokowi to Attend Asean Summit in Bangkok
Jakarta. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has confirmed he will attend the Asean Summit in Bangkok this weekend, his first foreign trip in his second presidential term, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
The Southeast Asian regional grouping will hold their 35th summit and meet with leaders from key allies in separate events on Nov. 2 to 4.
"President Jokowi will depart for Bangkok on Saturday, November 2," Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Jose Tavares told a press conference at his office in Jakarta.
Jose said the summit will be followed by a series of meetings with key Asean partners, including East Asian powerhouses China, Japan and South Korea in the so-called Asean Plus Three Summit.
Subsequent summits will be held between Asean and the United States and also Japan.
The Bangkok meeting will also continue negotiations on a nearly-completed comprehensive regional economic partnership, Jose said.
During the summit, the president will likely present the Indonesia-proposed "Asean Outlook on Indo-Pacific" documents, which call for a greater degree of cooperation between Asean members and their partners.
The proposal was already adopted in last year's summit, which also took place in Thailand.
"After one year, the documents are now complete. It's time for the president to present them [to the other Asean member countries]," Jose said.
Asean currently has 10 members: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
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