Cambodia to host 13th ASEM Summit in Nov

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Phnom Penh, July 13 (IANS) Cambodia will host the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit on November 25 and 26 via videoconference, the Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.

Cambodia will host the summit virtually given that the Covid-19 pandemic still prevails and emerging variants trigger new waves in many parts of the world, including Cambodia, said Foreign Ministry's secretary of state Luy David, who is the ASEM Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) leader for the country.

"The decision has been made based on the recommendation of the National Committee for Combatting Covif-19 that a physical summit is neither safe for ASEM leaders to attend nor practical as the virus continues to rage on while travel restrictions are being re-imposed by many countries," Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

The announcement comes after the ASEM SOM was held via videoconference last week which was attended by all 51 member leaders, as well as the representatives from the European Union, ASEAN Secretariat, and Asia-Europe Foundation.

The meeting substantively discussed the draft of the Phnom Penh Statement on the Post-Covid-19 Socio-Economic Recovery, which will be one of the two outcome documents to be adopted at the ASEM13, the Ministry said.

Originally scheduled for November 16-17, 2020 in capital Phnom Penh, the summit had been twice postponed due to the pandemic.

ASEM comprises 53 partners, including 21 Asian countries, 30 European countries, the ASEAN Secretariat, and the European Union.

Collectively, ASEM partners represent 65 per cent of the global economy, 60 per cent of the world's population, 55 per cent of the world trade and 75 per cent of the world tourism.

ASEM was founded in 1996 and Cambodia became its member in 2004.

--IANS

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