A workshop was held in Myanmar ’s capital of Nay Pyi Taw on March 28 to help with the country’s preparations to assume the role of ASE AN chairmanship for the first time in 2014.

The event saw the attendance of senior officials from Brunei , Cambodia and Indonesia along with representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat.

Addressing the event, Myanmar ’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Kyaw U Thant said that his Government greatly appreciates receiving experience from the previous chairs.

“Apart from implementing the Roadmap, the Chair has a key role to play in promoting ASEAN centrality, and leads ASEAN as the primary driving force in its relations and cooperation with external partners in the evolving regional architecture,” said U Nyan Lynn, Deputy Secretary-General for the ASEAN Political-Security Community.

Discussions during the workshop focused on remaining agenda items in implementing the roadmap for an ASEAN Community, the lessons learnt and and the best practices in ASEAN Chairmanship.

Participants also discussed ways to assist the Myanmar Government in building its capacity, and a review of the assistance so far provided by ASEAN member states, ASEAN’s dialogue partners, and other entities.
 
The workshop was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar and the ASEAN Secretariat in collaboration with the US Government-funded ASEAN-US Technical Assistance and Training Facility.-VNA