His Excellency Yousouf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman, graced the first ever ASEAN Day reception jointly hosted by the ASEAN diplomatic missions accredited to the Sultanate of Oman. For the record, the ASEAN member states in Oman comprised of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
The ASEAN Day reception with the theme, “Our People, Our Future Together” was held at the prestigious Intercontinental Hotel, Muscat on the 16th September 2013. The reception was well received with the presence of about 250 guests made up of senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oman, representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Majlis Shura, Royal Oman Police, heads of Diplomatic Mission accredited to Oman as well as communities of the ASEAN countries.
The reception ceremoniously started with the playing of the Oman’s national anthem and followed by the “ASEAN Way” song. A short speech was then delivered by H.E Sukantho, the Ambassador of Indonesia as the Chairman of the ASEAN Committee Muscat followed by the cake cutting ceremony. Before the sumptuous dinner were served, guests were shown a documentary on the history of ASEAN.
In addition to tasting ASEAN cuisines prepared by the hotel chefs, the ASEAN Ladies Circle also prepared authentic desserts such as Kuih Lenggang (Brunei Darussalam), Onde-Onde (Indonsia), Karipap (Malaysia), Kutsinta – similar to Kuih Lompang (the Philippines), Kuih Bakar (Singapore) and Thailand introduced its Kaow Tom Mhad, which is steamed glutinous rice with banana filing. In true ASEAN style, no guests went home empty handed as country souvenirs and tourism brochures from all the six ASEAN countries represented in the reception were given away as mementos.
Embassy of Malaysia, Muscat
