Activities of Secretary-General in Malaysia, 22 November
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Madam Ban Soon-taek arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the morning of Sunday, 22 November.
The Secretary-General spoke at the tenth East Asia Summit during which he expressed great faith in the region’s potential in tackling global concerns. Underscoring the Summit’s importance in helping to deepen cooperation across the region, the Secretary-General, once again, welcomed the recent Trilateral Summit between the leaders of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea as an opportunity to foster stronger cooperation across North-East Asia, including on the Korean Peninsula. (See Press Release SG/SM/17350.)
The Secretary-General attended the signing ceremony of the 2015 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Community and the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together.
On the margins of the seventh ASEAN-UN Summit, the Secretary-General met with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, and congratulated Malaysia on its successful chairmanship of ASEAN in 2015.
The Secretary-General met with the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, and expressed his sympathy to the people in South-East Asia affected by the haze issue. He had the opportunity to meet with President Thein Sein of Myanmar and commended the statesmanship of the country’s leaders during the recent historic elections.
The Secretary-General also met with the Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thongsing Thammavong, as well as with the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, Member of Parliament, and discussed climate change, ahead of the twenty-first Conference of Parties meeting in Paris.
During a meeting with the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, the Secretary-General expressed his deepest condolences to the people and the Government of the Russian Federation on the tragic crash of flight KGL 9268 and the terrorist attack in Bamako, Mali.
Speaking to world leaders at the ASEAN-UN Summit, the Secretary-General underscored the need for a meaningful new agreement at the twenty-first Conference of Parties. He called on ASEAN to play a major role in supporting global climate action, adding that countries in the region can potentially realize massive benefits of a low-carbon economy. (See Press Release SG/SM/17351.)
The Secretary-General and Madam Ban departed for New York later that evening.