Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 2 hosted a ceremony to
hoist the ASEAN flag to mark the bloc’s 46 th founding anniversary
(August 8).
Present at the event were ambassadors of
ASEAN member countries in Malaysia, ambassadors of ASEAN partner
countries, government and parliament officials.
Delivering the opening speech, Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah
Zainuddin said the flag raising ceremony is to honour the association’s
positive achievements, contributing to improving public awareness,
especially young people’s knowledge about ASEAN’s role.
He said that ASEAN’s theme this year, “Our people, our future”,
reflects the central role of people in the bloc’s future development,
matching its agenda to build a people-orientated ASEAN Community.
Such an ASEAN will attract greater involvement from all walks of life
in the work of the bloc, he added, calling for support from its member
states to help youngsters take part in youth-related ASEAN programmes.
On the occasion, the ministry held a photo exhibition on ASEAN’s development history and achievements.-VNA