Kuala Lumpur Gears Up As Delegates Arrive For ASEAN Summit 

SEPANG, May 24 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is receiving a wave of diplomatic arrivals today as delegates gather in Kuala Lumpur for the upcoming 46th ASEAN Summit and Related Meetings.

Among them was United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of State Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, who arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) here at 2.16 pm.

Also arrived today were ASEAN secretary-general Dr Kao Kim Hourn at 2.40 pm, followed by Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for International Multilateral Affairs Abdulrahman Al-Rassi at 3 pm.

Timor-Leste's Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas arrived at 5 pm while Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son arrived at the airport at 5.45 pm.

The 46th ASEAN Summit will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on May 26 and 27, alongside with the second ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit and the inaugural ASEAN-GCC-China Summit.

The ASEAN Summit will bring together leaders from member states to deliberate on regional developments and chart the future direction of the regional grouping.

This marks Malaysia’s fifth time chairing ASEAN, following its previous terms in 1977, 1997, 2005 and 2015.

-- BERNAMA