WELCOMING REMARKS BY YB DATO’ SERI UTAMA HAJI MOHAMAD BIN HAJI HASAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF MALAYSIA

Yang Amat Berhormat Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia,

Yang Amat Berhormat Dato’ Seri Haji Fadillah bin Haji Yusof, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia,

Excellencies the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN Member States, His Excellency Dr. Kao Kim Hourn,

Secretary-General of ASEAN,

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Assalamualaikum, and good morning.

Let me begin by expressing my deepest appreciation to Yang Amat Berhormat Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, for your presence today. I know you’d just arrived from Rio at 2 a.m. this morning, and you still made it here for this. I thank you very much for that.

On behalf of the Malaysian Government, I am pleased to welcome our ASEAN Colleagues back to Kuala Lumpur for the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

ASEAN has come a long way since its inception, 58 years ago. On that day, five of our leaders gathered to plant the seeds of our community, with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration.

This was a major turning point in the history of the region. In 1967, ASEAN was born into a world defined by nuclear brinkmanship, and proxy wars being fought across the globe.

Amid such tensions, it was a visionary act to bring five Southeast Asian nations together in the name of peace. In a world fragmented by conflict, our founders chose to build bridges, and uplift multilateralism.

Today, we face newer threats. Climate change. Disruptive technologies. Societies driven apart by political and economic polarisation.

In the realm of geopolitics, great power rivalries cast their long shadows across our region. Protectionism, endangers the open multilateral trade which powered our growth. Distant conflicts disrupt our markets, supply chains, and food security.

These issues endanger us all, but especially those of us in the Global South. We, in ASEAN, must focus our efforts toward a future-proof Southeast Asia.

We must keep our spirit, of strategic autonomy and collective action alive. With the torch now in our hand, we must lead our peoples into a safer, more equitable future.

In pursuit of this goal, Malaysia’s Chairmanship is guided by the aspirations, of Inclusivity and Sustainability.

We aim to strengthen regional peace, stability, and prosperity, within a future-oriented framework anchored in these values.

Just weeks ago in this hall, our Leaders signed the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future, and adopted the ASEAN Community Vision 2045.

This 20-year vision aims for a resilient, innovative, and people-centred ASEAN. That journey begins now.

Our course shall be steered by ASEAN Centrality, allowing us to shape regional architecture on our terms.

With this strategic clarity, ASEAN will engage our 11 Dialogue Partners in the upcoming Post-Ministerial Conferences, laying the groundwork for the ASEAN Plus Three and East Asia Summits. This ensures economic cooperation and strategic trust move in tandem.

We will also convene the ASEAN Regional Forum with renewed resolve, affirming its role as the region’s key platform for political-security dialogue.

ASEAN’s principles are being embraced well beyond our region. Later today, we welcome Algeria and Uruguay as new signatories to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation.

And on Friday, Malaysia will host the Fourth Cooperation Among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development, reaffirming ASEAN’s solidarity with the Palestinian people.

As I conclude, I remind my Colleagues: ASEAN has never shied away from ambition. Our work carries the hopes and futures of the nearly 700 million souls we represent.

The stage is set, and the moment is ours.

It is now my privilege to invite Yang Amat Berhormat Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia, to deliver his Opening Address.

Sir, the stage is yours.

Thank you. Terima kasih.

--BERNAMA