ASEAN | Pakistan

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday drew attention to key challenges threatening peaceful coexistence and stability across the world, listing the Kashmir dispute and India’s threats to Pakistan’s water share among them. He made the remarks at the 33rd ministerial meeting of the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) held in Manila, the Philippines. Foreign ministers and delegates from 27 member states of ARF gathered for the summit, which comes amid a flare-up in the war between the United States and Iran. The conflict is a key concern for the 11-nation Asean, which has a combined gross domestic product of about $3.8 trillion heavily reliant on Middle East oil. Addressing the meeting, DPM Dar highlighted eight key challenges that he said “continue to threaten peaceful coexistence, stability and our livelihoods across the region and the world”. “Any delay in addressing these challenges will only undermine our collective efforts to achieve peace, stability and prosperity across our regions and ...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for talks on Wednesday during a regional gathering led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), where top diplomats voiced concern about renewed Middle East hostilities and tension in the South China Sea. The two were expected to discuss a possible US summit between their leaders flagged for the end of September by President Donald Trump, with Rubio saying on Sunday it was still anticipated. Rubio and Wang did not speak to the media as they entered the room. The meeting comes amid a fragile truce between the world’s biggest economies that could be complicated by Trump’s accusations of Chinese meddling in US elections, which Beijing has denied. The broader Asean meeting in Manila comes amid a flare-up in the conflict between the United States and Iran, while tension simmers between Beijing and close US ally the Philippines over an incident in the South China Sea that led each to summon the other’s ambassador. Meeting with fore...

ISLAMABAD - Ambassadors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) called on Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif in Islamabad.

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backtracked from his proposed visit to Malaysia at the weekend to attend an Asean-related summit, joining the discussions “virtually” instead, it was officially announced on Friday. The opposition Congress party blamed the change of plan on Mr Modi’s fear of meeting President Donald Trump. The annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-nation grouping, as well as associated meetings, will be held from Oct 26 to 28 in Kuala Lumpur. The Hindu said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had not provided any reason for Mr Modi’s decision, though the paper quoted Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as saying that Mr Modi had cited the “ongoing Deepavali celebrations” as the reason for the change in plans. The MEA announced that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will represent Mr Modi and lead the Indian delegation at the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 27. Asean is a key pillar of India’s Act East Policy and Asia-Pacific...

ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain on Thursday called for concrete steps to expand economic ties between Pakistan and the ASEAN region.