On 10-11 June 2010, Thailand, as the country coordinator of ASEAN-Canada relations, will host the 7th ASEAN-Canada Dialogue at Siam City Hotel, Bangkok. The Meeting will be co-chaired by Mrs. Chitriya Pinthong, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Kenneth Macartney, Director General of South, Southeast Asia & Oceania, Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada.
The 7th ASEAN-Canada Dialogue, which is the Meeting at Senior Officials level, will discuss and exchange views on strategic issues ranging from politics and security to economic and regional issues. The Meeting will also review recent developments in both ASEAN and Canada, and discuss how to further enhance their cooperation. Most importantly, the Meeting will finalize the draft of the Plan of Action to Implement the Joint Declaration on the ASEAN-Canada Enhanced Partnership 2011-2015 before the adoption by their foreign ministers at the Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) in Hanoi on 22 July 2010.
The official relation between ASEAN and Canada was established in 1977. There are 3 levels of ASEAN-Canada Meetings namely, the PMC+1 with Canada, the ASEAN-Canada Dialogue Meeting and the ASEAN-Canada Informal Coordinating Meeting (ICM). The first ASEAN-Canada Dialogue took place on 19 January 2004. At the recent PMC session with Canada on 22 July 2009 in Phuket, the Meeting adopted the Joint Declaration on the ASEAN-Canada Enhanced Partnership which was the master plan for future cooperation. On that occasion, Thailand also assumed the role of country coordinator for ASEAN-Canada dialogue relations, which will last until 2011.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th