The 2019 ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit and the 1st Mekong-Republic of Korea Summit will be held in Busan, November 25-27.
On the sidelines of these summits, President Moon Jae-in plans to hold bilateral summits with the leaders of the 10 ASEAN member states: Four bilateral summits will be held in Seoul – during a state visit from Brunei and official visits from Singapore, Viet Nam and Malaysia – and the remaining six will be held in Busan.
On November 23, President Moon will hold the first of the four summits in Seoul with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam will be in the next on November 24, followed by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Viet Nam on November 27 and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia on November 28.
In Busan, President Moon will hold back-to-back talks over two days, November 25-26, with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha of Thailand, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar and Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos.
The upcoming bilateral summits are expected to serve as an opportunity to take stock of the achievements President Moon has made during his visits to all 10 ASEAN member states in around two and a half years since his inauguration. They will also become an opportunity to develop a more well-defined blueprint for future cooperation based on the friendship that President Moon has forged with each leader of ASEAN. In addition, extensive, in-depth discussions are planned concerning ways to raise the level of cooperation to new heights in various fields where it is already active, including trade and investment, infrastructure, national defense and the defense industry, agriculture, healthcare, development cooperation and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
The summits are expected to serve as an opportunity not only to reaffirm ASEAN member states’ support for the Korean Peninsula peace process being implemented by the Korean Government but also to discuss cooperation for the sake of peace and prosperity in the region and international community as well as on the Peninsula.
The Korean Government anticipates that the individual bilateral summits between President Moon and the leaders of the 10 ASEAN member states will help solidify the foundation for the envisioned people-centered community of peace in which everyone thrives together. The Government also expects that the summits will be a precious opportunity to further advance friendly cooperative relations with each ASEAN member state.