Khmer Times, Opinion 10 January 2023, (Link)
It was with great pride and honor that Cambodia successfully hosted the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and Related Summits in November, and the whole Cambodian team can finally feel relieved as we passed on the chairmanship to Indonesia after the year-long dedication and hard work from each and every member of the organizing committee.
We have tried our best to put a smile on the face of every leader who
attended the summits, and allow everyone to return home with a good memory of a
fulfilling visit to Cambodia, both in terms of success on the substance of the
deliberations, revitalization of friendship and direct personal engagement
among leaders after a long hiccup caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The support and assistance, cooperation and flexibility extended by all
ASEAN member states, as well as our external partners, have been indispensable
for Cambodia to steer the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' process
successfully throughout 2022 under the theme “ASEAN A.C.T.: Addressing
Challenges Together."
Everyone can agree that 2022 was an exceptionally challenging year, with
many "hot stones" – the term coined by Prime Minister Hun Sen
suggesting difficult issues even more serious than hot potatoes – affecting the
region and the world at the same time as other rising geopolitical tensions,
such as impacts of the war in Ukraine, the Myanmar crisis, escalation of the
situations in the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait, while we already had our
hands full with intensifying efforts to recover from Covid-19, climate-change
impacts, and many other existing issues.
Yet ASEAN and our partners succeeded in showing the world that
multilateralism is still the best solution for global problems. With our joint
efforts through the ASEAN process, we can better manage uncertainties and
complexities, or even prevent the dangers of miscalculation, amid intensifying
superpower rivalries and regional wars, as well as the threat of a nuclear war.
In listing what we have achieved, we have to carefully and constantly bear
in mind that the achievements belong to all ASEAN member states, not just
Cambodia alone. And the achievements under Cambodian chairmanship are also the
results that stemmed from the work of the previous chairmanships. This
continuity of the ASEAN process holds true for every other ASEAN chairmanship,
including that of Indonesia this year.
To begin with, in January 2022, we started our chairmanship with the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement. This is a greatly positive light amid the gloomy global economic situation. It is worth noting that RCEP negotiation was launched in 2012 in Cambodia also during that country's chairmanship. It is a light of hope against trade protectionism when geopolitical rivalries also affect trade and economic aspects.