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US President Barack Obama. Photo: AP US president also withdraws from APEC summit in Bali amid US federal government shutdown victim WASHINGTON — United States President Barack Obama has cancelled plans to attend an the inaugural US-ASEAN summit in Brunei next week, the White House said in a statement late yesterday (Oct 3) as US government remains shut down. Mr Obama was due to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bali this weeeknd and the East Asia summit and the inaugural US-ASEAN meeting in Brunei next week. The decision means Mr Obama will no longer depart tomorrow for what had originally been a four-nation, week-long Asia trip. He had already shortened the trip from four countries to two, cancelling visits to Malaysia and the Philippines earlier this week because of his budget struggle with Republicans in Congress. “The cancellation of this trip is another consequence of the House Republicans forcing a shutdown of the government,” ...

His Majesty takes closer look at preparations for next week’s meetings Read more:  http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/10/02/royal-inspection-of-asean-summit-venue/#ixzz2hBsGaUok Read more:   http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/10/02/royal-inspection-of-asean-summit-venue/#ixzz2hBsGaUok Posted on  October 2, 2013, Wednesday BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN:  In a week’s time, Brunei Darussalam as Asean Chair 2013 will play host to the 23rd Asean Summit and other major meetings where Asean leaders along with their counterparts from China, Republic of Korea and Japan as well as Asean Dialogue Partners such as the United States and Russia will gather from October 9 to 10 to discuss a wide range of political, security and economic topics, Borneo Bulletin reported. His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam as the Chairman of the 23rd Asean Summit yesterday toured the venue for the summit, the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas, to tak...

Leaders of the Asean countries pose for a group photo during the 22nd ASEAN Summit in Bandar Seri Begawan April 25, 2013. Burma’s President Thein Sein stands furthest to the right. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — During the 23rd Asean Summit in Brunei on October 8-10, President Thein Sein will receive the chairman’s gavel from the Sultan of Brunei, the current chair of the regional bloc. Although Burma won’t officially assume chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations until 2014, the event is a symbolic reminder of the former pariah state’s ongoing international rehabilitation and economic integration with the burgeoning region, after having been passed over for the chair in 2006 due to political repression in the country. The President’s Office spokesperson Ye Htut told The Irrawaddy that Thein Sein would accept the gavel at the end of the 23rd ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, on Oct. 10. “The President will take over ...

Bandar Seri Begawan:  The report on the Mid-Term Review of the Implementation of the Asean Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint has been completed and will be presented to leaders in the upcoming 23rd Asean Summit on October 9. This was announced by Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Hamid Haji Mohd Jaafar, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, during the 15th Senior Officials' Committee for ASCC (SOCA) meeting at the grand hall of The Empire Hotel & Country Club yesterday. During the meeting, senior Asean officials prepared for the final gathering this year of the ministerial body that coordinates sociocultural cooperation across Southeast Asia. Dato Hamid said the completion of the report was an accomplishment that would not have been possible without the support and cooperation of all ten Asean member states. "The value of this hard work will be evident when all the findings and recommendations help us to move faster and act more effectively in imp...

Dato Paduka Hj Mohd Hamid (R), permanent secretary at MCYS, at the final working group meeting of mid-term review of the implementation of ASCC Blueprint, held at The Empire Hotel & Country Club. Picture: BT/Saifulizam RABIATUL   KAMIT BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN Tuesday, September 24, 2013 SENIOR ASEAN officials convened in Brunei yesterday for the final meeting of the Mid-Term Review Working Group for the implementation of a socio-cultural blueprint. Dato   Paduka   Hj   Mohd   Hamid   Hj   Mohd   Jaafar , Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, said the officials recommended for the report on the mid-term review to be published and made public after it is adopted. He added that the mid-term review is still a work in progress and that the working group has almost reached its target. The working group met in the Sultanate earlier this month as well as in Indonesia in June and Thailand ...

The Third Session of ASEAN Community Statistical System (ACSS) Committee conducted last week in Brunei Darussalam adopted enabling mechanisms for more comparable ASEAN statistics, clearer policies and guidelines on data sharing, confidentiality, and enhanced dissemination and communication of ASEAN Statistics. To read more, please click the image above. The 3rd Session ACSS Committee Joint Media Statement is available  here .

News Desk The Brunei Times Publication Date : 29-08-2013 Prevailing regional and international defence and security issues were extensively discussed by Asean Defence Ministers and the Asean Deputy Secretary General during the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) Retreat yesterday. A statement issued by the Defence Ministry (MinDef) pointed out that Ministers had also underlined the importance of defence cooperation in building an Asean Political-Security Community by 2015 and beyond. Unwavering in their commitment onto the matter, the ministers reiterated in their commitment to address these challenges collectively through cooperation in the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) mechanisms. The Ministers agreed to continue working on addressing non-traditional security challenges such as in the area of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) and maritime security, noted the sta...

The 23rd ASEAN Summit and Related Summits will be held from 9 to 10 October 2013 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. An ASEAN Senior Officials’ Preparatory Meeting will be held on 8 October 2013. To read the full details, click the link above.

ASEAN MINISTERIAL MEETING ON DRUG MATTERS 1 – 4 SEPTEMBER 2013, BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, BRUNEI DARUSSALAM Chairman's Statement 1. ASEAN Ministers, SOM Leaders and the Heads of Anti-Drug Agencies and the ASEAN Secretariat attended the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Drug Matters held in Bandar Seri Begawan on 3rd September 2013. The Meeting aimed, through ASOD to monitor the progress of the implementation of the ASOD Work Plan 2009-2015. 2. The Meeting expressed their profound gratitude to His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam for graciously granting an audience to the Ministers and Senior Officials and for his invaluable advice in advancing regional cooperation in combating transnational crime. 3. The Meeting took note that the Leaders of ASEAN called for intensified concerted efforts to realise the vision and goal of a Drug-Free ASEAN 2015 to be a high priority agenda. The Meeting also recognised that the drug problem continues to constitute ...

Photo: The Opening Ceremony of the 2nd ADMM-Plus. Three years since its establishment, the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) has cemented its role as a premier venue for strategic dialogue in defence and security issues among ASEAN and its eight Dialogue Partners with practical cooperation constituting the main thrust of the process. This is the second time the ASEAN Defence Ministers met with their counterparts from eight of ASEAN Dialogue Partners, namely Australia, China, Japan, India, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia, and the United States. In their second meeting, the Defence Ministers reviewed the remarkable progress of the ADMM-Plus’ cooperation  in the five priority areas of cooperation, namely humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, maritime security, peacekeeping operations, military medicine, and counterterrorism.   The ADMM-Plus has brought together militaries of the eighteen nations to enhance their networks in a multilateral diplo...

The new round of peace dialogue set on October 20 with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) will see more participants from other insurgency factions taking part. The participation of more persons on the insurgency side was revealed at the closed-door meeting in Narathiwat yesterday. The meeting was chaired by deputy prime minister Pracha Promnok and attended by all relevant national security, provincial and military officers. Intelligence source said that Sapa-ing Basor, a key leader of the BRN will send his representative Awae Yaba to join the peace talk with other representatives invited by the BRN to take part. The source said that Mr Hassan Taib remained the team leader of the BRN  and he has invited representatives from the old Pulo and neo-Pulo and BIPP to join, while the Thai team negotiators would remain the same. But the source said that there was conflict within the BRN, particularly the faction led by Sapa-ing and other youth  and armed groups  ...

Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is now in Indonesia where it is hosting the APEC Summit. A Thai Rath correspondent said that Thaksin flew from Hong Kong to Indonesia where the 21st APEC Summit is being held from October 6-8. It was expected that the ex-premier would discuss cabinet reshuffle with his sister Prime Minister Yingluck Shinwatra who is now at the APEC Summit. At the same time Thaksin’s son Oak Panthongtae wrote on his Facebook saying “whatever will be will be” if he was forced to enter politics. The country’s mass circulation daily reported that it was strongly possible that the discussion would focus on reshuffling cabinet ministers who have shareholding problems and those whose terms in cabinet posts were long enough for rotation. Thaksin was also reported to hold discussion with businessmen from other Asian countries. The reshuffle this month will become clearer after the prime minister returns from the Summit. Meanwhile Thaksin’s lawyer Noppadol...

The government of Myanmar has launched a national strategic plan to empower women, in a country where about 95 percent of lawmakers are male and women face major barriers to employment and health care, The Irrawaddy reported. The National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women (NSPAW) was developed over three years and launched in Naypyidaw last week. The 10-year plan suggests practical ways to address challenges in a dozen priority areas, including initiatives to improve access to education and health care as well as the development of better laws to eliminate gender-based violence and policies to promote equal rights to jobs, credit and resources. It also suggests ways to increase women’s political leadership and harness the media to reduce gender stereotyping. The plan comes amid calls for greater participation of women in politics by the country’s best-known female lawmaker, Aung San Suu Kyi. Speaking in Naypyidaw on Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate told a ...

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday opened the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, by highlighting Apec’s integral role in the current global economic environment. In his opening remarks, Yudhoyono highlighted the importance of APEC’s role in the future amid further economic turbulence. Citing International Monetary Fund (IMF) data, the president said economic growth in the Apec region was estimated to reach 6.3 percent in 2013, and in 2014, it was predicted to reach 6.6 percent. On the sidelines of the summit, Yudhoyono held a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Yudhoyono warmly welcomed Putin, saying Indonesia and Russia’s relations had continued to develop. “And our meeting now can make our partnership become closer,” he said. Putin said the prospects for relations between the two countries were still very open. Tags:   Apec Summit ,  ASEAN ,  Bali ,  bilateral talks ,  Ind...