14th ASEAN-India senior officials meeting opens in Cambodia

The 14th ASEAN-India senior officials meeting began here on Sunday to review progress of ASEAN- India cooperation and its future direction. The one-day meeting was co-chaired by Soeung Rathchavy, secretary of state at Cambodia's Foreign Ministry and Indian Ministry of External Affairs Secretary Sanjay Singh. According to the agenda, the meeting would discuss the development of the India-Myanmar-Laos-Vietnam-Cambodia highway and the extension of the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway to Laos and Cambodia. It also reviewed the implementation of the action plan of the ASEAN-India partnership for peace, progress and shared prosperity (2010-2015) and the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area, as well as exchanging views on regional and international issues. The meeting was preparatory for the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting, Post Ministerial Conferences, the 19th ASEAN Regional Forum, East Asia Foreign Ministers meeting on July 9-13 and the 10th ASEAN-India Summit in November in Phnom Penh. The ASEAN, established in 1967, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.