- The Secretary General of the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) will meet senior leaders from Government,
business, and academia to advance ASEAN-UK Cooperation
- Discussions will focus on priority areas outlined in ASEAN
strategies including in the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific and
reflected in the 2022-2026 ASEAN-UK Plan of Action.
The Secretary General of ASEAN Dr Kao Kim Hourn begins a
three-day visit to the UK today (1 November), during which he
will discuss the breadth of the ASEAN-UK relationship with Deputy
Prime Minister and four other UK Ministers.
It will mark the first time the Secretary General has visited any
European country in his role.
With Indo-Pacific Minister , the Secretary General
will discuss the UK and ASEAN’s shared vision for a free and open
Indo-Pacific and the UK’s bids to join regional security and
defence organisations. The Minister and Secretary General will
join a maritime roundtable to discuss a new UK-ASEAN Maritime
Programme to boost regional resilience in responding to maritime
challenges.
ASEAN-UK cooperation on science, technology and health will also
be celebrated at a reception hosted by Minister for Health and
Secondary Care and Minister for Science,
Research and Innovation .
Deputy Prime Minister said:
The UK’s relationship with ASEAN is central to our long-term
commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. As an ASEAN Dialogue
Partner, we are growing our trading links - worth over £46bn a
year - and deepening cooperation on areas like cyber security and
resilience. I was delighted to further this work with Deputy
Secretary-General Michael Tene in Jakarta in September, and today
with Secretary-General Dr Kao Kim Hourn in London.
Minister for the Indo-Pacific said:
Our Dialogue Partnership with ASEAN provides boundless
opportunities to collaborate with our friends in Southeast Asia.
Through the ASEAN–UK Plan of Action we are developing programmes
of cooperation to advance a wide range of shared goals, from
economic reform and financial sector development to maritime
sustainability and adapting to climate change. We look forward to
further deepening our friendship over the many years to come.
The Secretary General will also meet UK Government International
Education Champion Sir Steve Smith and British Council CEO Scott
McDonald to discuss the UK’s International Education Strategy and
creative economies, and support for advancing girls’ education in
the region. During the visit, the UK will announce 10 new
UK-ASEAN Scholarships for Women in Science, Technology,
Engineering and Maths (STEM) and an ASEAN Chevening Programme to
be launched in 2024.
Infrastructure, trade and supply chain resilience will also be an
important focus of the visit. The Secretary General will meet
Minister of State for International Trade to discuss UK-ASEAN trade
including cooperation on digitalisation and financial services.
He will also visit Battersea Power Station and the London Stock
Exchange and discuss opportunities for strengthening UK-ASEAN
collaboration with senior leaders in business, including the
UK-ASEAN Business Council, think tanks and academia.
The visit follows the Foreign Secretary’s travel to
the ASEAN Foreign Ministerial
Meeting in Jakarta in July, where he met ASEAN Leaders
including the Secretary General, and the Minister of State for
International Trade’s attendance at the Third ASEAN Economic
Ministers-UK Consultation in August.
The UK became an ASEAN Dialogue Partner in
2021, in recognition of the bloc’s central role promoting
co-operation and shaping the wider Indo-Pacific regional order.
