The Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR) met with the Group of External Relations (GER) of the Pacific Alliance (comprising of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) in Bangkok on 10 May 2016, with the commitment to further forge closer inter-regional ties and explore cooperation in areas of mutual interest. Both sides agreed to finalise the ASEAN-Pacific Alliance Framework for Cooperation for adoption at the 3rd ASEAN-Pacific Alliance Ministerial Meeting in September 2016. The ASEAN-Pacific Alliance Framework for Cooperation will serve as a basis for the identified areas of cooperation, inter-alia, financial regulations, trade facilitation, SMEs, connectivity, logistics, science, technology and innovation as well as people-to-people exchanges through education, tourism, culture, and sports. The CPR and the GER of the Pacific Alliance Meeting was co-chaired by H.E. Busadee Santipitaks, Permanent Representative of Thailand to ASEAN and H.E. Ignacio Higueras, Director of Integration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru. Malaysia was represented by H.E. Dato’ Hasnudin Hamzah, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to ASEAN.
The CPR also took the opportunity to call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, and meet with the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) while in Bangkok.
